1 mujaheddin prev next

Difficulty: 18.08
Appears 37 times in book:
Sen 19455 A mujaheddin fighter once told me that fate gives all of us three teachers, three friends, three enemies, and three great loves in our lives.
Sen 20045 If we pass through the heavily armed clans who would like to take what we have, we will deliver our goods to a unit of mujaheddin fighters who are putting siege to Kandahar city.
Sen 20404 We were setting out with him to commit a score of crimes across three international boundaries, and to interfere in a war between Afghanistan’s mujaheddin freedom fighters and the mighty Goliath of the Soviet Union.
Sen 20484 The heavy winter clothing, after a journey of thousands of kilometres through Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan, never reached the fighting men of the mujaheddin in the snowdraped mountains of Afghanistan.
Sen 20705 They should want us to smuggle stuff to the mujaheddin.
2 charras prev next
Definition
The gum resin of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa). Same as Churrus. Balfour. "churrus": A powerfully narcotic and intoxicating gum resin which exudes from the flower heads, seeds, etc., of Indian hemp.

Difficulty: 18.82
Appears 31 times in book:
Sen 413 ‘Just it happens I have it one tola, ten grams, the best Afghan charras, in my pocket.
Sen 462 ‘Is good charras, yes?’
Sen 503 I say that this very best charras is one hundred rupees, not two.’
Sen 912 But now, Linbaba, with this money from selling your good present to Mr. Sanjay, I can buy two bottles of very bad and nicely cheap Indian whisky, to enjoy, and plenty of money left for one nice new shirt, red colour, one tola of good charras, tickets for enjoying air condition Hindi picture, and two days of foods.
Sen 973 ‘Well, now I am telling … that tola charras, the one I was selling to you in hotel …’
3 gora prev next

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 28 times in book:
Sen 2445 ‘He says you are the first gora he ever met who can speak Marathi …
Sen 3370 ‘Gora kaun hain?’ the driver asked, when we climbed aboard the step.
Sen 5649 As we got out of the car I heard the cop say loudly, The gora speaks Hindi?
Sen 6321 ‘I have brought the gora to meet you.
Sen 10835 Perhaps the strangeness of the situation—a white man, a gora, pleading in Hindi for the lives of two black men—held them back from murder.
4 chillum prev next

Difficulty: 18.38
Appears 24 times in book:
Sen 4601 He prepared the chillum, rocking from side to side and smiling absently.
Sen 4606 He finished preparing the chillum, and looked up at me.
Sen 4612 Then he held the chillum to his mouth, in the funnel of his hand, puffed it alight, and offered it to me.
Sen 5515 ‘Chillum bono,’ Khaderbhai said to Abdullah.
Sen 5516 Make a chillum.
5 beedie prev next

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 16 times in book:
Sen 3523 Smoking a beedie cigarette and sitting on the ox-bow yoke, his legs dangling free, was Prabaker’s father.
Sen 7910 She threw the finished beedie away, and took a step towards me.
Sen 8314 Karla fidgeted, tossed her beedie cigarette out of the open window, and rifled through the contents of her patent-leather shoulder bag.
Sen 10550 I lay back, in a darkness that smelt of incense and beedie cigarettes and cheap kerosene, and I sifted the events of the last few days through a sieve of doubt and suspicion.
Sen 11087 Prabaker went to buy three beedie cigarettes from Kumar’s shop counter, and lit them with the same match, holding them in one hand and burning the ends with the other.
6 singlet prev next
Definition
An unlined or undyed waistcoat; a single garment; -- opposed to doublet. [Prov. Eng.] "doublet": 1. Two of the same kind; a pair; a couple. 2. (Print.) A word or words unintentionally doubled or set up a second time. 3. A close-fitting garment for men, covering the body from the neck to the waist or a little below. It was worn in Western Europe from the 15th to the 17th century. 4. (Lapidary Work) A counterfeit gem, composed of two pieces of crystal, with a color them, and thus giving the appearance of a naturally colored gem. Also, a piece of paste or glass covered by a veneer of real stone. 5. (Opt.) An arrangement of two lenses for a microscope, designed to correct spherical aberration and chromatic dispersion, thus rendering the image of an object more clear and distinct. W. H. Wollaston. 6. pl. (See No. 1.) Two dice, each of which, when thrown, has the same number of spots on the face lying uppermost; as, to throw doublets. 7. pl. Etym: [Cf. Pr. doblier, dobler draughtboard.] A game somewhat like backgammon. Halliwell. 8. One of two or more words in the same language derived by different courses from the same original from; as, crypt and grot are doublets; also, guard and ward; yard and garden; abridge and abbreviate, etc.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 15 times in book:
Sen 3287 He lifted his shirt and singlet to display what was indeed a rough scratch and gathering bruise.
Sen 9298 He was wearing Puma sneakers, jeans, and a basketball singlet with the number 23 printed on the front.
Sen 11020 Appraising it with a suspicious squint, he slapped at the crate with a filthy rag and then tucked the cloth into his singlet.
Sen 11891 He wore a black singlet under the shirt, and the black hat was still hanging at his back.
Sen 12417 There, the rich men, like the rest of us, packed their nostrils with strips of cloth torn from a shirt or singlet, and clamped a lit beedie cigarette between their teeth to fight the smell.
7 goondas prev next

Difficulty: 17.80
Appears 13 times in book:
Sen 5613 He has goondas, and those gangsters have made threats, and even done some beatings.
Sen 13419 ‘One of Khaderbhai’s goondas beat up a rich kid at a nightclub,’ he began, handing me a drink.
Sen 13633 His team of Indian goondas and Iranian veterans of the war with Iraq ensured that irregularities were rare, and ruthlessly punished.
Sen 20984 ‘Local goondas,’ I laughed.
Sen 20985 ‘Goondas,’ he repeated, laughing with me.
8 matka prev next

Difficulty: 18.49
Appears 10 times in book:
Sen 4081 One hundred and twelve numbers—one for every man in the village—were written on small pieces of paper, and mixed together in an empty clay water-pot, called a matka.
Sen 5413 On the sea wall, I felt the cool breeze wash across the skin of my face and chest like water poured from a clay matka.
Sen 7346 The water was stored in an earthenware matka.
Sen 11003 I stripped off my torn, bloody shirt, and poured a third of a bucket of clean water from the clay matka.
Sen 11373 I told him to throw out the water in his matka, wash it out thoroughly, and get fresh water.
9 baksheesh prev next
Definition
Same as Backsheesh. "backsheesh": In Egypt and the Turkish empire, a gratuity; a "tip".

Difficulty: 17.74
Appears 10 times in book:
Sen 593 This place is so good, they only have to pay the police half of usual baksheesh money.
Sen 1514 To baksheesh!’
Sen 2455 ‘Baksheesh, Lin.
Sen 5364 And, of course, anyone who could pay baksheesh was safe.
Sen 5703 Now they see such big baksheesh, more than a policeman like him is getting, and they will respect him a little.
10 lungi prev next

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 10 times in book:
Sen 3652 Under the indigo banner of early-evening sky, on the scratch of track between fields of undulant maize and millet, we spread out the colours of India, the yellows and reds and peacock blues of shirts and lungi wraps and saris.
Sen 3784 After the final rinse, and a quick dry off with the towel, he taught me how to tie a lungi around the wet shorts.
Sen 3785 The lungi was a sarong-like rectangle of cotton, worn from waist to ankle.
Sen 3786 He gathered two long ends or corners of the lungi at the front, and then passed them around my waist, and rolled them under the top edge, in the small of my back.
Sen 3787 Within the encircling lungi, I removed and discarded my wet shorts and slipped on a dry pair of shorts underneath.
11 roti prev next

Difficulty: 16.20
Appears 10 times in book:
Sen 3980 When we’d made our toilet, washed our faces, and cleaned our teeth, Rukhmabai stood over Prabaker and me while we ate a solid breakfast of roti and chai.
Sen 3981 The roti, or unleavened flatbreads, were made fresh for each breakfast, and cooked in a lightly oiled wok on an open fire.
Sen 3985 Trapped, our jaws grinding away at the admittedly delicious food, we both cast surreptitious glances at the young women cooking at the wok, hoping that each roti, after the third or fourth we’d eaten, would be our last.
Sen 3990 The meal usually consisted of the ubiquitous roti, spicy lentil dhal, mango chutney, and raw onions, served with lime juice.
Sen 4204 They were dressed in dhotis and white caps like the farmers in Prabaker’s village, and they sat on the floor to eat a hearty meal of dhal, rice, and roti.
12 marketeers prev next

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 9 times in book:
Sen 4383 The black marketeers, who were Prabaker’s friends and contacts on the street, were happy that I’d brought new customers to them, and they paid me commissions as well.
Sen 4399 True, I’d inadvertently discovered a way to earn money as a middleman, a go-between, helping wary foreigners to deal with black marketeers.
Sen 11777 The rain had been heavy, and the flooding in many areas of the city was as hard on the touts, dealers, guides, acrobats, pimps, beggars, and black marketeers who made their living on the street as it was on the many businessmen whose shops were submerged.
Sen 11789 But the swiftest to the source, the sharpest-eyed of all the street people, were those of us who broke the law professionally: the black marketeers.
Sen 13658 The black marketeers were happy because a steady stream of dollars, Deutschmarks, riyals, and dirhams flowed into the river of demand created by Indian business travellers.
13 dour prev next
Definition
Hard; inflexible; obstinate; sour in aspect; hardy; bold. [Scot.] A dour wife, a sour old carlin. C. Reade.

Difficulty: 16.23
Appears 9 times in book:
Sen 1221 The dark, brooding, undernourished young man was Modena, a dour and taciturn Spaniard who did black-market business with French, Italian, and African tourists.
Sen 8979 ‘Abdul has a pet theory, Lin,’ said Khaled, the dour Palestinian.
Sen 9119 Keki was dour and unresponsive, and Rajubhai seemed to be suspicious of me, almost to the point of rudeness.
Sen 15028 ‘Touch wood,’ Scorpio added, his dour frown already focusing on the troubles the evening might bring.
Sen 18095 The point man for Maurizio’s operation in Bombay was the diffident, dour Spaniard, Sebastian Modena.
14 hutments prev next

Difficulty: 18.49
Appears 8 times in book:
Sen 5487 ‘You are the doctor in the Colaba hutments, Mr. Lin.
Sen 5489 It is unusual, a foreigner, living in the hutments.
Sen 5494 The slum where I lived, known as the zhopadpatti, or the hutments, half a square kilometre, with twenty-five thousand men, women, and children, belonged to him?
Sen 5500 Doctors will not go into the hutments willingly.
Sen 6168 ‘He is the doctor in the Colaba hutments.’
15 spluttered prev next
Definition  (splutter)
To speak hastily and confusedly; to sputter. [Colloq.] Carleton. A confused noise, as of hasty speaking. [Colloq.] "confusedly": In a confused manner. "sputter": 1. To spit, or to emit saliva from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking. 2. To utter words hastily and indistinctly; to speak so rapidly as to emit saliva. They could neither of them speak their rage, and so fell a sputtering at one another, like two roasting apples. Congreve. 3. To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a noise like that made by one sputtering. Like the green wood . . . sputtering in the flame. Dryden. To spit out hastily by quick, successive efforts, with a spluttering sound; to utter hastily and confusedly, without control over the organs of speech. In the midst of caresses, and without the last pretend incitement, to sputter out the basest accusations. Swift. Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles; also, confused and hasty speech.

Difficulty: 17.91
Appears 8 times in book:
Sen 4263 I thought he was about to admit defeat, but at last he gasped and spluttered his way through to empty the glass.
Sen 13322 ‘Am ek?’ he spluttered, through the laugh.
Sen 17547 ‘I’m just glad it wasn’t an advert for laxatives or some such!’ he spluttered, causing me to laugh and spray tea at him in return.
Sen 22006 ‘Don’t get me started again!’ Khaled spluttered, laughing and clutching at his side.
Sen 22486 ‘I’m out of line!’ I spluttered, feeling my teeth chatter, and struggling to make my numb limbs obey my mind.
16 winced prev next
Definition  (wince)
1. To shrink, as from a blow, or from pain; to flinch; to start back. I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word. Shak. 2. To kick or flounce when unsteady, or impatient at a rider; as, a horse winces. The act of one who winces. A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or washing cloth; a winch. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment. at will. Wince pit, Wince pot, a tank or a pit where cloth in the process of dyeing or manufacture is washed, dipped in a mordant, or the like. "flounce": To throw the limbs and body one way and the other; to spring, turn, or twist with sudden effort or violence; to struggle, as a horse in mire; to flounder; to throw one's self with a jerk or spasm, often as in displeasure. To flutter and flounce will do nothing but batter and bruise us. Barrow. With his broad fins and forky tail he laves The rising sirge, and flounces in the waves. Addison. The act of floucing; a sudden, jerking motion of the body. An ornamental appendage to the skirt of a woman's dress, consisting of a strip gathered and sewed on by its upper edge around the skirt, and left hanging. To deck with a flounce or flounces; as, to flounce a petticoat or a frock. "mordant": 1. Biting; caustic; sarcastic; keen; severe. 2. (Dyeing & Calico Printing) Serving to fix colors. 1. Any corroding substance used in etching. 2. (Dyeing & Calico Printing) Any substance, as alum or copperas, which, having a twofold attraction for organic fibers and coloring matter, serves as a bond of union, and thus gives fixity to, or bites in, the dyes. 3. (Gilding) Any sticky matter by which the gold leaf is made to adhere. To subject to the action of, or imbue with, a mordant; as, to mordant goods for dyeing.

Difficulty: 16.54
Appears 8 times in book:
Sen 9346 Ameer winced and grimaced inventively, but he didn’t cry out.
Sen 9938 He winced, but I didn’t relax the grip.
Sen 12467 ‘Oooooh!’ he winced, pursing his lips.
Sen 12477 ‘Oooooh!’ he winced again, hunching his shoulders.
Sen 13255 That face wrinkled and winced as he stared at me.
17 haphazard prev next
Definition
Extra hazard; chance; accident; random. We take our principles at haphazard, upon trust. Locke.

Difficulty: 16.07
Appears 8 times in book:
Sen 555 The haphazard slouch of neglected tenements crumbled into lavish displays of market vegetables and silks.
Sen 2280 Stone facades, which had once been splendid and impressive, were crumbling, grimed, and patched with haphazard necessity.
Sen 2477 The ground was paved with haphazard collections of tiles that had once been the floors of kitchens and bathrooms.
Sen 4193 The furniture was shoddy and thrown together in haphazard combinations, however, and the carpet in the corridors had worn through to shaggy holes in many places.
Sen 6234 When Abdullah took us into the plaited traffic once more, his bike weaving a haphazard progress through the threads of buses, cars, trucks, bicycles, bullock wagons, and pedestrians, he called over his shoulder to tell me that Doctor Hamid had once lived in a slum himself.
18 nahin prev next

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 7 times in book:
Sen 964 Ha means yes, and nahin means no, and pani means water, and khanna means foods, and —’
Sen 6747 ‘Pani nahin,’ Qasim said.
Sen 7044 ‘Takleef nahin!’ one of the bear-handlers called out.
Sen 9251 ‘Nahin, baba!’
Sen 14108 ‘Riot nahin, morcha hain.’ It’s not a riot, it’s a demonstration.
19 goonda prev next

Difficulty: 17.80
Appears 7 times in book:
Sen 6818 Come on, take this stick of yours, and beat a man with it, you cheap goonda.’
Sen 7647 ‘It’s the name of a thief, a goonda.
Sen 9255 He’s a cheeky fellow, a goonda.
Sen 18644 I walked the goonda walk, and in three languages I talked the talk.
Sen 18700 When I approached Chandra Mehta for help in organising the dancers, two weeks before Prabaker’s wedding, he’d assumed that the Prabaker in question was an important goonda working for Khaderbhai.
20 aur prev next

Difficulty: 17.43
Appears 7 times in book:
Sen 1187 Ek coffee aur.
Sen 12999 ‘Aur dass!’ he screamed.
Sen 26225 ‘Saatch aur Himmat.’ I spoke it aloud for them.
Sen 27661 ‘Saatch … aur himmat,’ he said, looking each man in the eye.
Sen 27663 ‘Saatch aur himmat,’ they replied.
21 lamplight prev next
Definition
Light from a lamp. This world's artificial lamplights. Owen Meredith.

Difficulty: 17.01
Appears 7 times in book:
Sen 4949 By the yellow flickering lamplight we tended to the wounded slum-dwellers, using my first-aid kit as the basis of our little open-air clinic.
Sen 5404 I found books on diagnostic medicine, and studied them by lamplight in my hut.
Sen 9151 As I turned into the last gully where my own empty hut waited, I saw lamplight.
Sen 18666 A cotton sheet strung across the doorway was just sheer enough in the golden lamplight to reveal thrillingly indistinct shadows, inflaming fierce desires in many of those who crowded outside, where I stood guard and kept the curious at bay.
Sen 25128 I remembered reading Didier’s letter and deciding, in that shifting, yellow lamplight, that I would kill Madame Zhou.
22 beedies prev next

Difficulty: 17.01
Appears 7 times in book:
Sen 7871 She took a bundle of beedies from her pocket and lit two of them with a cigarette lighter, holding the small cigarettes in one hand and playing the flame over them with the other.
Sen 8226 ‘I don’t think anyone knows.’ She took out two beedies, lit them, and gave me one.
Sen 20883 I took two beedies from a pack, lit them in my hand with the play of a match, and handed one to him.
Sen 22201 Instead, I lit two beedies, and passed one to him.
Sen 22262 I lit two more beedies, not for the need of them, but for the distraction they provided, and their little warmth.
23 haunches prev next
Definition  (haunch)
1. The hip; the projecting region of the lateral parts of the pelvis and the hip joint; the hind part. 2. Of meats: The leg and loin taken together; as, a haunch of venison. Haunch bone. See Innominate bone, under Innominate. -- Haunches of an arch (Arch.), the parts on each side of the crown of an arch. (See Crown, n., 11.) Each haunch may be considered as from one half to two thirds of the half arch. "innominate": 1. Having no name; unnamed; as, an innominate person or place. [R.] Ray. 2. (Anat.) A term used in designating many parts otherwise unnamed; as, the innominate artery, a great branch of the arch of the aorta; the innominate vein, a great branch of the superior vena cava. Innominate bone (Anat.), the great bone which makes a lateral half of the pelvis in mammals; hip bone; haunch bone; huckle bone. It is composed of three bones, ilium, ischium, and pubis, consolidated into one in the adult, though separate in the fetus, as also in many adult reptiles and amphibians. -- Innominate contracts (Law), in the Roman law, contracts without a specific name.

Difficulty: 16.89
Appears 7 times in book:
Sen 2326 I tried to help the man to stand, but there was an elderly woman who squatted on her haunches there, in the open doorway, and she slapped at my hands, warning me away.
Sen 3582 As we loaded our gear and climbed into the back of the cart, Kishan took his seat on the yoke attached to the ox-bow, raised a long bamboo stick that had a nail driven into the end of it, and moved us off with a tremendous blow to the animal’s haunches.
Sen 4961 I blinked, and squinted, and realised that he was squatting on his haunches, with his elbows on his knees, and his face cupped in his hands.
Sen 9796 Nazeer squatted on his haunches to smoke with us.
Sen 12532 It took four hours, shuffling forward and squatting on our haunches, and they left me till last.
24 lungis prev next
Definition
A lingerer; a dull, drowsy fellow. [Obs.] "lingerer": One who lingers. Guardian.

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 7 times in book:
Sen 2170 They shouted instructions to the crowd, and in moments a wooden cart appeared, pushed by bare-chested men wearing only singlets and short lungis.
Sen 4576 Workmen, wearing faded lungis, stood beside men in traditional dress from various regions of India.
Sen 6907 After they’d scrubbed themselves clean with a hot bucket-bath, and dressed in new lungis and clean, white singlets, the two boys stood before an assembly of their families, friends, and neighbours.
Sen 8088 I’ve got one pair of boots, one pair of jeans, one shirt, two T-shirts, and a couple of lungis.
Sen 9675 In my hut there were only two lungis, which I wore for sleeping, bathing, or for when I washed my jeans.
25 paunch prev next
Definition
1. (Anat.) The belly and its contents; the abdomen; also, the first stomach, or rumen, of ruminants. See Rumen. 2. (Naut.) A paunch mat; -- called also panch. 3. The thickened rim of a bell, struck by the clapper. Paunch mat (Naut.), a thick mat made of strands of rope, used to prevent the yard or rigging from chafing. 1. To pierce or rip the belly of; to eviscerate; to disembowel. Shak. 2. To stuff with food. [Obs.] Udall. "panch": See Paunch. "clapper": 1. A person who claps. 2. That which strikes or claps, as the tongue of a bell, or the piece of wood that strikes a mill hopper, etc. See Illust. of Bell. Clapper rail (Zoöl.), an Americam species of rail (Rallus scepitans). A rabbit burrow. [Obs.] "eviscerate": To take out the entrails of; to disembowel; to gut. "disembowel": 1. To take or let out the bowels or interior parts of; to eviscerate. Soon after their death, they are disemboweled. Cook. Roaring floods and cataracts that sweep From disemboweled earth the virgin gold. Thomson. 2. To take or draw from the body, as the web of a spider. [R.] "Her disemboweled web." J. Philips. "rumen": 1. (Anat.) The first stomach of ruminants; the paunch; the fardingbag. See Illust. below. 2. The cud of a ruminant.

Difficulty: 16.22
Appears 7 times in book:
Sen 2163 He was a round-shouldered man, in his middle forties, wearing a grey, cotton safari suit that had been tailored to accommodate the extravagant boast of his large paunch.
Sen 3524 Kishan Mango Kharre was a tiny man, shorter even than Prabaker, with very close-cropped grey hair, a short, grey moustache, and a prominent paunch on his otherwise slender frame.
Sen 3565 He still held the shirt up to his chest, exposing the round, hairy paunch.
Sen 4802 He smiled happily and shook my hand, rubbing vigorously at his prominent paunch all the while.
Sen 9441 He was a tall man with a prominent paunch and a large, expressively bristly moustache, tinged with grey.
26 sisterfucker prev next

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 12225 Now get in the fucking jeep, you sisterfucker, or we’ll beat you with the lathis, and then put you in.’
Sen 12364 Next room, sisterfucker!
Sen 18858 You’re speaking like a regular Bombay sisterfucker.
Sen 20087 Go, sisterfucker!
Sen 26738 ‘Hey white sisterfucker, can’t you see the taxi’s empty?
27 dhal prev next

Difficulty: 17.98
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 3789 After the shower, and a delicious meal of dhal, rice, and homemade flatbreads, Prabaker and I watched as his parents and his two sisters opened their presents.
Sen 3990 The meal usually consisted of the ubiquitous roti, spicy lentil dhal, mango chutney, and raw onions, served with lime juice.
Sen 4204 They were dressed in dhotis and white caps like the farmers in Prabaker’s village, and they sat on the floor to eat a hearty meal of dhal, rice, and roti.
Sen 6892 Joseph was given rice and dhal.
Sen 11992 We ate chicken byriani, malai kofta, vegetable korma, rice, curried vegetables, deep fried pieces of pumpkin, potato, onion, and cauliflower, hot buttered naan bread, dhal, papadams, and green mango chutney.
28 tola prev next
Definition
A weight of British India. The standard tola is equal to 180 grains.

Difficulty: 17.62
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 410 I can get it one tola, one kilo, ten kilos, even I know where it is a full warehouse …’
Sen 413 ‘Just it happens I have it one tola, ten grams, the best Afghan charras, in my pocket.
Sen 912 But now, Linbaba, with this money from selling your good present to Mr. Sanjay, I can buy two bottles of very bad and nicely cheap Indian whisky, to enjoy, and plenty of money left for one nice new shirt, red colour, one tola of good charras, tickets for enjoying air condition Hindi picture, and two days of foods.
Sen 973 ‘Well, now I am telling … that tola charras, the one I was selling to you in hotel …’
Sen 976 The really price—the friendship price—is only fifty rupees for one tola Afghani charras.’ He lifted his arms, and then let them slap down at his thighs.
29 protruded prev next
Definition  (protrude)
1. To thrust forward; to drive or force along. Locke. 2. To thrust out, as through a narrow orifice or from confinement; to cause to come forth. When . . . Spring protrudes the bursting gems. Thomson. To shoot out or forth; to be thrust forward; to extend beyond a limit; to project. The parts protrude beyond the skin. Bacon.

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 10763 A piece of shinbone on one leg protruded below the knee.
Sen 12672 As we approached, a prisoner opened a valve at the base of the tank, allowing a small jet of water to escape from a pipe that protruded at about shin-height.
Sen 20642 In a few moments the similarity dissolved: Mahmoud’s eyes protruded a little, his lips were less full, and his chin was pointed, as if it was designed to hold a goatee beard.
Sen 21887 One bone protruded at a sickeningly unnatural angle, but it remained within the envelope of flesh, and nowhere pierced the skin.
Sen 22823 One thick chunk of bone protruded from the lumpy meat.
30 daru prev next

Difficulty: 17.19
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 6716 When the rough, home-brewed alcohol, known as daru, was produced, he instructed Prabaker and Jeetendra to force Joseph to drink.
Sen 6720 He gulped down more of the extremely powerful daru and then tried to push it away, saying that he’d had enough.
Sen 6822 He shouted for water, but they offered him only the daru bottle.
Sen 6826 Daru spilled over his stubbled chin, and ran from his gaping mouth.
Sen 6872 You will not drink even one drop of daru or beer or anything but water.
31 solicitous prev next
Definition
Disposed to solicit; eager to obtain something desirable, or to avoid anything evil; concerned; anxious; careful. "Solicitous of my reputation." Dryden. "He was solicitous for his advice." Calerendon. Enjoy the present, whatsoever it be, and be not solicitous about the future. Jer. Taylor. The colonel had been intent upon other things, and not enough solicitous to finish the fortifications. Clarendon. -- So*lic"it*ous*ly, adv. -- So*lic"it*ous*ness, n. "clarendon": A style of type having a narrow and heave face. It is made in all sizes. Note: This line is in nonpareil Clarendon.

Difficulty: 17.04
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 3260 In the carriage and the corridor beyond, the other passengers were similarly respectful, sharing, and solicitous with one another.
Sen 7695 ‘Sorry for problem, Miss Karla,’ Prabaker apologised, his face pinched in a solicitous frown.
Sen 10717 Tariq embraced him in a solicitous hug, and their close friendship was sealed.
Sen 11400 With that call to arms from Johnny Cigar, and the simple, solicitous gesture from Sita, the battle began.
Sen 20192 In the weeks that followed he became solicitous and even tender-hearted toward me.
32 bewilderment prev next
Definition
1. The state of being bewildered. 2. A bewildering tangle or confusion. He . . . soon lost all traces of it amid bewilderment of tree trunks and underbrush. Hawthorne. "bewildering": Causing bewilderment or great perplexity; as, bewildering difficulties. -- Be*wil"der*ing*ly, adv. "underbrush": Shrubs, small trees, and the like, in a wood or forest, growing beneath large trees; undergrowth.

Difficulty: 16.66
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 4238 I stared at him in bewilderment.
Sen 7039 The bewilderment and obvious reluctance on my face drove the people to more and bigger laughter.
Sen 9893 A minute later we were outside, on the street beside the Nabila Mosque, boy and man joined tightly at the hand but in nothing else except our bewilderment at the power of the personality that had pushed us together against our wills.
Sen 13315 The two men raised their palms, and exchanged identical expressions of bewilderment.
Sen 19282 ‘What?’ I asked, looking at him with a frown that was angry in its bewilderment.
33 solemnity prev next
Definition
1. A rite or ceremony performed with religious reverence; religious or ritual ceremony; as, the solemnity of a funeral, a sacrament. Great was the cause; our old solemnities From no blind zeal or fond tradition rise, But saved from death, our Argives yearly pay These grateful honors to the god of day. Pope. 2. ceremony adapted to impress with awe. The forms and solemnities of the last judgment. Atterburry. 3. Ceremoniousness; impressiveness; seriousness; grave earnestness; formal dignity; gravity. With much glory and great solemnity. Chaucer. The statelines and gravity of the Spaniards shows itself in the solemnity of their language. Addison. These promises were often made with great solemnity and confirmed with an oath. J. Edwards. 4. Hence, affected gravity or seriousness. Solemnity 's a cover for a sot. Young. 5. Solemn state or feeling; awe or reverence; also, that which produces such a feeling; as, the solemnity of an audience; the solemnity of Westminster Abbey. 6. (Law) A solemn or formal observance; proceeding according to due form; the formality which is necessary to render a thing done valid. "earnestness": The state or quality of being earnest; intentness; anxiety. An honest earnestness in the young man's manner. W. Irving. "observance": 1. The act or practice of observing or noticing with attention; a heeding or keeping with care; performance; -- usually with a sense of strictness and fidelity; as, the observance of the Sabbath is general; the strict observance of duties. It is a custom More honored in the breach than the observance. Shak. 2. An act, ceremony, or rite, as of worship or respect; especially, a customary act or service of attention; a form; a practice; a rite; a custom. At dances These young folk kept their observances. Chaucer. Use all the observance of civility. Shak. Some represent to themselves the whole of religion as consisting in a few easy observances. Rogers. O I that wasted time to tend upon her, To compass her with sweet observances! Tennyson. 3. Servile attention; sycophancy. [Obs.] Salads and flesh, such as their haste could get, Served with observance. Chapman. This is not atheism, But court observance. Beau. & Fl. Syn. -- Observance, Observation. These words are discriminated by the two distinct senses of observe. To observe means (1) to keep strictly; as, to observe a fast day, and hence, observance denotes the keeping or heeding with strictness; (2) to consider attentively, or to remark; and hence, observation denotes either the act of observing, or some remark made as the result thereof. We do not say the observation of Sunday, though the word was formerly so used. The Pharisees were curious in external observances; the astronomers are curious in celestial observations. Love rigid honesty, And strict observance of impartial laws. Roscommon. "sot": 1. A stupid person; a blockhead; a dull fellow; a dolt. [Obs.] outh. In Egypt oft has seen the sot bow down, And reverence some dOldham. 2. A person stupefied by excessive drinking; an habitual drunkard. "A brutal sot." Granville. Every sign That calls the staring sots to nasty wine. Roscommon. Sottish; foolish; stupid; dull. [Obs.] "Rich, but sot." Marston. To stupefy; to infatuate; to besot. [R.] I hate to see a brave, bold fellow sotted. Dryden. To tipple to stupidity. [R.] Goldsmith. "ceremoniousness": The quality, or practice, of being ceremonious.

Difficulty: 16.57
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 5767 Khaderbhai also took a sugar cube and sipped his tea through it, endowing the little custom with a peculiar dignity and solemnity, as in fact he did with every expression and even the most casual gesture.
Sen 5945 He said it with such solemnity, despite the smile, that I had to laugh.
Sen 9624 ‘A man …’ he began, intoning the words with sacramental solemnity.
Sen 18719 He leapt to his feet and danced a few pumps of his hip-thrusting sexy dance before the solemnity of the occasion overwhelmed him once more, and he sat down with his bride.
Sen 20420 The irony was that we were, in fact, similarly dour and serious men, but his grim severity was so stark that it roused me from my own solemnity, and provoked a childish, prankish desire to mock him.
34 karo prev next

Difficulty: 16.51
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 1188 Jaldi karo!’
Sen 2072 ‘Band karo!’ Prabaker shouted.
Sen 11896 Arre, full karo!’
Sen 15212 Band karo!
Sen 15214 Band karo!’ Now, now!
35 prised prev next
Definition  (pris)
See Price, and 1st Prize. [Obs.]

Difficulty: 16.50
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 1252 The whisky arrived, in four small flasks, and the waiter prised the tops off two soda bottles with a brass bottle opener that hung from a chain at his belt.
Sen 9891 Tariq clung to him, grabbing his hair, and had to be prised from the embrace with some force.
Sen 10155 I placed the ashtray under it and prised it loose, letting it fall from her hand into the bowl.
Sen 12814 Holding the ribbed seam at the neck, he prised it apart and revealed the sheppesh crawling in the crease at the seam.
Sen 18172 She gently prised the glass from Ulla’s fingers, and gave her a cigarette.
36 waggling prev next
Definition  (waggle)
To reel, sway, or move from side to side; to move with a wagging motion; to waddle. Why do you go nodding and waggling so L'Estrange. To move frequently one way and the other; to wag; as, a bird waggles his tail.

Difficulty: 16.50
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 3316 The man beamed a smile at me so huge that it was half the brilliance of Prabaker’s own, and set to such energetic head waggling in return that I was, at first, a little alarmed.
Sen 3360 By the time the bus rolled out of the busy terminal, I was accepting smiles and head-wiggles from every man in sight, and waggling and wiggling at them in return.
Sen 3551 His eyes glittered as he spoke to me, waggling his head all the while in what seemed to be an unnervingly seductive leer.
Sen 4455 ‘No, no, Lin,’ Prabaker declined, waggling his head.
Sen 8663 The taxi driver greeted them, waggling his head happily.
37 chided prev next
Definition  (chide)
1. To rebuke; to reprove; to scold; to find fault with. Upbraided, chid, and rated at. Shak. 2. Fig.: To be noise about; to chafe against. The sea that chides the banks of England. Shak. To chide hither, chide from, or chide away, to cause to come, or to drive away, by scolding or reproof. Syn. -- To blame; rebuke; reprove; scold; censure; reproach; reprehend; reprimand. 1. To utter words of disapprobation and displeasure; to find fault; to contend angrily. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses. Ex. xvii. 2. 2. To make a clamorous noise; to chafe. As doth a rock againts the chiding flood. Shak. A continuous noise or murmur. The chide of streams. Thomson. "chafe": 1. To ecxite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm. To rub her temples, and to chafe her skin. Spenser. 2. To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate. Her intercession chafed him. Shak. 3. To fret and wear by rubbing; as, to chafe a cable. Two slips of parchment which she sewed round it to prevent its being chafed. Sir W. Scott. Syn. -- To rub; fret; gall; vex; excite; inflame. To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to wear by friction. Made its great boughs chafe together. Longfellow. The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores. Shak. 2. To be worn by rubbing; as, a cable chafes. 3. To have a feeling of vexation; to be vexed; to fret; to be irritated. Spenser. He will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter. Shak. 1. Heat excited by friction. 2. Injury or wear caused by friction. 3. Vexation; irritation of mind; rage. The cardinal in a chafe sent for him to Whitehall. Camden. "reproof": 1. Refutation; confutation; contradiction. [Obs.] 2. An expression of blame or censure; especially, blame expressed to the face; censure for a fault; chiding; reproach. Those best can bear reproof who merit praise. Pope. Syn. -- Admonition; reprehension; chiding; reprimand; rebuke; censure; blame. See Admonition. "disapprobation": The act of disapproving; mental condemnation of what is judged wrong, unsuitable, or inexpedient; feeling of censure. We have ever expressed the most unqualified disapprobation of all the steps. Burke. "reprove": 1. To convince. [Obs.] When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. John xvi. 9. 2. To disprove; to refute. [Obs.] Reprove my allegation, if you can. Shak. 3. To chide to the face as blameworthy; to accuse as guilty; to censure. What if thy son Prove disobedient, and, reproved, retort, "Wherefore didst thou beget me" Milton. 4. To express disapprobation of; as, to reprove faults. He neither reproved the ordinance of John, neither plainly condemned the fastings of the other men. Udall. Syn. -- To reprehend; chide; rebuke; scold; blame censure. -- Reprove, Rebuke, Reprimand. These words all signufy the expression of disapprobation. To reprove implies greater calmness and self-possession. To rebuke implies a more excited and personal feeling. A reproof may be administered long after the offience is committed, and is usually intended for the reformation of the offender; a rebuke is commonly given at the moment of the wrong, and is administered by way of punishment and condemnation. A reprimand proceeds from a person invested with authority, and is a formal and offiscial act. A child is reproved for his faults, and rebuked for his impudence. A military officer is reprimanded for neglect or violation of duty. "reprehend": To reprove or reprimand with a view of restraining, checking, or preventing; to make charge of fault against; to disapprove of; to chide; to blame; to censure. Chaucer. Aristippus being reprehended of luxury by one that was not rich, for that he gave six crowns for a small fish. Bacon. Pardon me for reprehending thee. Shak. In which satire human vices, ignorance, and errors . . . are severely reprehended. Dryden. I nor advise nor reprehend the choice. J. Philips. "clamorous": Speaking and repeating loud words; full of clamor; calling or demanding loudly or urgently; vociferous; noisy; bawling; loud; turbulent. "My young ones were clamorous for a morning's excursion." Southey. -- Clam"or*ous*ly, adv. -- Clam"or*ous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.08
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 1175 ‘You didn’t hear a word we said,’ she chided.
Sen 2143 ‘Looks like you were wrong, Prabu,’ I chided, smiling as I lit a cigarette for him.
Sen 2664 ‘Your sympathy should be for me,’ Ulla chided.
Sen 8079 ‘Hey come on!’ she chided, curling her lip in an affable smirk.
Sen 8842 ‘Come now, Lin,’ Abdul Ghani chided.
38 dhoti prev next

Difficulty: 16.03
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 3525 He wore the white cap, cotton kurtah shirt, and dhoti of the farmer caste.
Sen 3526 The dhoti is technically described as a loincloth, but the term robs the garment of its serene and graceful elegance.
Sen 3528 The dhoti itself is always moving, and it follows the human contour in every act from running to sitting still.
Sen 3531 Gandhi gave the dhoti prominence on his trips to Europe, in the struggle for Indian independence from England.
Sen 24123 A short, fat, balding man in a white singlet and dhoti opened the door and thrust out his hands at once in a double handshake.
39 hobbled prev next
Definition  (hobble)
1. To walk lame, bearing chiefly on one leg; to walk with a hitch or hop, or with crutches. The friar was hobbling the same way too. Dryden. 2. To move roughly or irregularly; -- said of style in writing. Prior. The hobbling versification, the mean diction. Jeffreys. 1. To fetter by tying the legs; to hopple; to clog. " They hobbled their horses." Dickens 2. To perplex; to embarrass. 1. An unequal gait; a limp; a halt; as, he has a hobble in his gait. Swift. 2. Same as Hopple. 3. Difficulty; perplexity; embarrassment. Waterton. "versification": The act, art, or practice, of versifying, or making verses; the construction of poetry; metrical composition. "perplex": 1. To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated, and difficult to be unraveled or understood; as, to perplex one with doubts. No artful wildness to perplex the scene. Pope. What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view. Locke. 2. To embarrass; to puzzle; to distract; to bewilder; to confuse; to trouble with ambiguity, suspense, or anxiety. "Perplexd beyond self- explication." Shak. We are perplexed, but not in despair. 2 Cor. iv. 8. We can distinguish no general truths, or at least shall be apt to perplex the mind. Locke. 3. To plague; to vex; to tormen. Glanvill. Syn. -- To entangle; involve; complicate; embarrass; puzzle; bewilder; confuse; distract. See Embarrass. Intricate; difficult. [Obs.] Glanvill. "hopple": 1. To impede by a hopple; to tie the feet of (a horse or a cow) loosely together; to hamper; to hobble; as, to hopple an unruly or straying horse. 2. Fig.: To entangle; to hamper. Dr. H. More. A fetter for horses, or cattle, when turned out to graze; -- chiefly used in the plural. "fetter": 1. A chain or shackle for the feet; a chain by which an animal is confined by the foot, either made fast or disabled from free and rapid motion; a bond; a shackle. [They] bound him with fetters of brass. Judg. xvi. 21. 2. Anything that confines or restrains; a restraint. Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound. Dryden. 1. To put fetters upon; to shakle or confine the feet of with a chain; to bind. My heels are fettered, but my fist is free. Milton. 2. To reastrain from motion; to impose restrains on; to confine; to enchain; as, fettered by obligations. My conscience! thou art fettered More than my shanks and wrists. Shak. "perplexity": The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton. "irregularly": In an irregular manner.

Difficulty: 16.00
Appears 6 times in book:
Sen 5921 He hobbled away as the singers returned to the stage.
Sen 6227 Abdullah and I left him, and waited for twenty minutes in the restaurant, watching through a large window as poor patients hobbled to the entrance of the hospital, and rich patients were delivered in taxis and private cars.
Sen 6429 A stern, almost severe expression burned in his eyes, while the lepers hobbled forward, one by one, and tapped their leathery stumps or the blackened, curled claws of their fingernails to my feet.
Sen 6599 They clasped their arms around one another, and hobbled away on three legs.
Sen 13709 That innocence faltered when I stumbled from the Indian prison: my smile, no less than my footsteps, hobbled by the memory of the leg-irons.
40 khel prev next

Difficulty: 19.08
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 21434 With our senses alert for menace from without and within, we travelled by night, and sometimes by day, north along the mountainous border towards Pathaan Khel.
Sen 21435 Near the khel, or village, we swung north-north-west into deserted mountainous terrain that was veined with cold, fresh, sweet-water streams.
Sen 21437 We trudged between Pathaan Khel and Khairo Thaana; between Humai Khaarez and Haji Aagha Muhammad.
Sen 21534 When all the tributes were exacted—Hajji Mohammed drove a hard bargain, demanding and receiving Khader’s own horse as an additional, personal gift—Khaderbhai, Nazeer, and I agreed to accompany the leader to his khel.
Sen 21540 As Khader, Nazeer, and I rode away from the temporary camp toward the khel, the sounds of singing and laughter followed us, echo chasing playful echo.
41 wavelets prev next
Definition  (wavelet)
A little wave; a ripple.

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 4605 The rapid outward rushes of air sounded like wavelets on a steep shore.
Sen 11238 THE ROCKY CUSP OF COASTLINE bordering the slum began in mangrove swamp, at its left, and swept through deeper water around a long new-moon curve of white-crested wavelets to Nariman Point.
Sen 15334 Her hips rolled and swayed in time to the running wavelets that lapped at her feet.
Sen 25581 Tourist ferries bound for the caves on Elephanta Island, or returning to shore, rose up the wavelets and rolled over them in proud, practised glissades.
Sen 27914 When the call finally went out for us to gather at Haji Ali, I rode to the shrine on my Enfield bike, and walked with Abdullah and Mahmoud Melbaaf across the rippling wavelets of the bay.
42 lathi prev next

Difficulty: 18.16
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 5377 They were armed only with the thin bamboo cane known as the lathi.
Sen 5381 And although they struck out often with the lathi, savage or even serious beatings were rare—much less frequent than police beatings in the modern, western city where I’d grown up.
Sen 12652 Suddenly there was a stabbing pain at my ear as the night watch overseer swung his bamboo lathi against my head.
Sen 12890 A snakeskin pattern of lathi bruises covered their bare arms and legs.
Sen 12932 With all the stealth that malice manufactures, even in the gross and clumsy, Rahul crept up behind me and brought his lathi down on my left upper arm with bone-rattling force.
43 lathis prev next

Difficulty: 18.16
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 12225 Now get in the fucking jeep, you sisterfucker, or we’ll beat you with the lathis, and then put you in.’
Sen 12259 Five or six men hit my spinning body as hard and as often as they could, cracking their cane lathis against my skin.
Sen 13028 They hammered at me with the bamboo lathis for twenty minutes or more.
Sen 14235 All I could hear was the lathis ripping into me.’
Sen 27130 And two of those Wildlife-wallahs, two watchmen on duty, they got very upset about all the crying, so they went outside, and they started beating Kano’s blue men with lathis.
44 cheerily prev next
Definition
In a cheery manner.

Difficulty: 17.98
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 15029 ‘Should do all right out of it,’ Gemini said cheerily.
Sen 20473 The war in Afghanistan, most of them conjectured cheerily, had a few good years left in it.
Sen 24818 ‘She’s great, yaar,’ he responded cheerily, taking a seat.
Sen 25386 ‘We must be a bit early,’ Salman observed cheerily, and I flinched as I forced myself into the moment with him.
Sen 26386 ‘So how about a bite to eat then?’ Gemini suggested cheerily.
45 vehemence prev next
Definition
1. The quality pr state of being vehement; impetuous force; impetuosity; violence; fury; as, the vehemence. 2. Violent ardor; great heat; animated fervor; as, the vehemence of love, anger, or other passions. I . . . tremble at his vehemence of temper. Addison. "impetuosity": 1. The condition or quality of being impetuous; fury; violence. 2. Vehemence, or furiousnes of temper. Shak. "vehement": 1. Acting with great force; furious; violent; impetuous; forcible; mighty; as, vehement wind; a vehement torrent; a vehement fire or heat. 2. Very ardent; very eager or urgent; very fervent; passionate; as, a vehement affection or passion. "Vehement instigation." Shak. "Vehement desire." Milton. Syn. -- Furious; violent; raging; impetuous; passionate; ardent; eager; hot; fervid; burning. "ardor": 1. Heat, in a literal sense; as, the ardor of the sun's rays. 2. Warmth or heat of passion or affection; eagerness; zeal; as, he pursues study with ardor; the fought with ardor; martial ardor. 3. pl. Bright and effulgent spirits; seraphim. [Thus used by Milton.] Syn. -- Fervor; warmth; eagerness. See Fervor.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 10501 Then, his body rigid with the vehemence of his rage and courage, the little boy shrieked, seized a lump of wood, and crashed it down on the snout of the black dog.
Sen 14340 His eyes were dark, almost black, and gleaming with the vehemence of his wilful induration.
Sen 18987 ‘See my eviction from their point of view,’ Mehta retorted, with such vehemence that several heads turned toward him from other tables.
Sen 22284 It was the closest he ever came to showing anger in my presence, and I flinched involuntarily at the sudden vehemence.
Sen 27617 I wasn’t sure if it was at the vehemence of my tone or the blunt simplicity of the Hindi phrase.
46 enfolded prev next
Definition  (enfold)
To infold. See Infold. "infold": 1. To wrap up or cover with folds; to envelop; to inwrap; to inclose; to involve. Gilded tombs do worms infold. Shak. Infold his limbs in bands. Blackmore. 2. To clasp with the arms; to embrace. Noble Banquo, . . . let me infold thee, And hold thee to my heart. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.96
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 3838 Her life enfolded mine within its triumph and sorrow, just as easily as her red shawl sometimes enswathed a crying child that passed the doorway of her house.
Sen 5074 And some time during the course of that love-song, somewhere in the landscape of the slum-dwellers’ reassurances, somehow through the fact of our survival, their world enfolded my life within its dreams, as gently and completely as a swollen tide closes over a stone that stands upon its shore.
Sen 5401 Strange and troubled as my life was, the city enfolded it within the millions of others as if … as if it belonged there, no less than any other.
Sen 26689 Sometimes, we see the past so clearly, and read the legend of its parts with such acuity, that every stitch of time reveals its purpose, and a kind of message is enfolded in it.
Sen 28504 And then I knew what it was, that emptiness: there’s a name for it, a word we use often, without realising the universe of peace that’s enfolded in it.
47 forecourt prev next

Difficulty: 16.81
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 6550 Iqbal held impromptu classes every afternoon for a week in the main room of his father’s hut, and the crowd spilled out into the forecourt to share in his precious knowledge.
Sen 19417 No-one in the forecourt of the mosque or the street of shops could tell me when he’d left, or when he might return.
Sen 19700 I suddenly remembered the day in the rain, sailing in a canoe across the flooded forecourt of the Taj Mahal Hotel and beneath the booming, resonant dome of the Gateway Monument.
Sen 20750 I was still thinking of that first night, still worried by the questions I couldn’t answer, when Khaled and I came upon a large group of men, hundreds of them, sitting cross-legged on the tiles of a wide forecourt adjacent to the mosque.
Sen 25770 Once through the glass doors, I walked down the marble steps and across the wide forecourt of the Gateway Monument to the sea.
48 drawled prev next
Definition  (drawl)
To utter in a slow, lengthened tone. To speak with slow and lingering utterance, from laziness, lack of spirit, affectation, etc. Theologians and moralists . . . talk mostly in a drawling and dreaming way about it. Landor. A lengthened, slow monotonous utterance. "affectation": 1. An attempt to assume or exhibit what is not natural or real; false display; artificial show. "An affectation of contempt." Macaulay. Affectation is an awkward and forced imitation of what should be genuine and easy, wanting the beauty that accompanies what is natural what is natural. Locke. 2. A striving after. [Obs.] Bp. Pearson. 3. Fondness; affection. [Obs.] Hooker. "utterance": 1. The act of uttering. Specifically: -- (a) Sale by offering to the public. [Obs.] Bacon. (b) Putting in circulation; as, the utterance of false coin, or of forged notes. (c) Vocal expression; articulation; speech. At length gave utterance to these words. Milton. 2. Power or style of speaking; as, a good utterance. They . . . began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts ii. 4. O, how unlike To that large utterance of the early gods! Keats. The last extremity; the end; death; outrance. [Obs.] Annibal forced those captives whom he had taken of our men to skirmish one against another to the utterance. Holland. "drawling": The act of speaking with a drawl; a drawl. -- Drawl"ing*ly, adv. Bacon.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 7320 ‘Nobody’s perfect, as Didier would say,’ she drawled, with a smirk that fluttered just short of a smile.
Sen 10025 ‘Assuming you can handle it,’ I drawled, grinning in spite of myself, ‘what’s in it for me?’
Sen 11527 ‘Those charm school lessons are paying off, I see,’ she drawled, sounding very American.
Sen 27474 ‘I’m sure, Salman,’ Amir drawled, running his hand over the short, grey hair on his blunt head.
Sen 28256 ‘The second best?’ she drawled.
49 condescension prev next
Definition
The act of condescending; voluntary descent from one's rank or dignity in intercourse with an inferior; courtesy toward inferiors. It forbids pride . . . and commands humility, modesty, and condescension to others. Tillotson. Such a dignity and condescension . . . as are suitable to a superior nature. Addison. Syn. -- Complaisance; courtesy; affability. "complaisance": Disposition to please or oblige; obliging compliance with the wishes of others; a deportment indicative of a desire to please; courtesy; civility. These [ladies] . . . are by the just complaisance and gallantry of our nation the most powerful part of our people. Addison. They strive with their own hearts and keep them down, In complaisance to all the fools in town. Young. Syn. -- Civility; courtesy; urbanity; suavity; affability; good breeding. "affability": The quality of being affable; readiness to converse; courteousness in receiving others and in conversation; complaisant behavior. Affability is of a wonderful efficacy or power in procuring love. Elyot

Difficulty: 16.58
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 9759 He looked at me with benign, almost affectionate condescension.
Sen 12719 His broad expression, a parody of amused condescension, was infuriating.
Sen 17581 That style was two parts showman, two parts flatterer, and one part philanderer, combined with a hint of mischief, a sniff of condescension, and a pinch of contempt.
Sen 20292 The horses watched us with that peculiarly equine mix of white-eyed timorousness and snorting condescension.
Sen 20415 He saw the condescension behind my smile, even if he didn’t understand the full meaning of the words.
50 downcast prev next
Definition
Cast downward; directed to the ground, from bashfulness, modesty, dejection, or guilt. 'T is love, said she; and then my downcast eyes, And guilty dumbness, witnessed my surprise. Dryden. - Down"cast`ly, adv. -- Down"cast`ness, n. 1. Downcast or melancholy look. That downcast of thine eye. Beau. & Fl. 2. (mining) A ventilating shaft down which the air passes in circulating through a mine. "bashfulness": The quality of being bashful. Syn. -- Bashfulness, Modesty, Diffidence, Shyness. Modesty arises from a low estimate of ourselves; bashfulness is an abashment or agitation of the spirits at coming into contact with others; diffidence is produced by an undue degree of self-distrust; shyness usually arises from an excessive self-consciousness, and a painful impression that every one is looking at us. Modesty of deportment is becoming at all; bashfulness often gives rise to mistakes and blundering; diffidence is society frequently makes a man a burden to himself; shyness usually produces a reserve or distance which is often mistaken for haughtiness. "dumbness": The quality or state of being dumb; muteness; silence; inability to speak. "dejection": 1. A casting down; depression. [Obs. or Archaic] Hallywell. 2. The act of humbling or abasing one's self. Adoration implies submission and dejection. Bp. Pearson. 3. Lowness of spirits occasioned by grief or misfortune; mental depression; melancholy. What besides, Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair, Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring. Milton. 4. A low condition; weakness; inability. [R.] A dejection of appetite. Arbuthnot. 5. (Physiol.) (a) The discharge of excrement. (b) Fæces; excrement. Ray.

Difficulty: 16.33
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 4099 The almost submerged stick was his, and he accepted, with shy laughter and downcast eyes, the good-natured jeers of his friends and the sneers of the older men.
Sen 10817 The mob, swayed by my eloquent courage, would wander away from the scene with shamed and downcast eyes.
Sen 20938 His expression was sombre, and it seemed as if the spirit was draining invisibly from his downcast eyes as he spoke.
Sen 22301 He seemed satisfied with my reply, but his expression was downcast and almost grim.
Sen 27089 ‘No,’ he murmured, his eyes still downcast.
51 writhed prev next
Definition  (writhe)
1. To twist; to turn; now, usually, to twist or turn so as to distort; to wring. "With writhing [turning] of a pin." Chaucer. Then Satan first knew pain, And writhed him to and fro. Milton. Her mouth she writhed, her forehead taught to frown. Dryden. His battle-writhen arms, and mighty hands. Tennyson. 2. To wrest; to distort; to pervert. The reason which he yieldeth showeth the least part of his meaning to be that whereunto his words are writhed. Hooker. 3. To extort; to wring; to wrest. [R.] The nobility hesitated not to follow the example of their sovereign in writhing money from them by every species of oppression. Sir W. Scott. To twist or contort the body; to be distorted; as, to writhe with agony. Also used figuratively. After every attempt, he felt that he had failed, and writhed with shame and vexation. Macaulay. "contort": To twist, or twist together; to turn awry; to bend; to distort; to wrest. The vertebral arteries are variously contorted. Ray. Kant contorted the term category from the proper meaning of attributed. Sir W. Hamilton. "vexation": 1. The act of vexing, or the state of being vexed; agitation; disquiet; trouble; irritation. Passions too violent . . . afford us nothing but vexation and pain. Sir W. Temple. Those who saw him after a defeat looked in vain for any trace of vexation. Macaulay. 2. The cause of trouble or disquiet; affliction. Your children were vexation to your youth. Shak. 3. A harassing by process of law; a vexing or troubling, as by a malicious suit. Bacon. Syn. -- Chagrin; agitation; mortification; uneasiness; trouble; grief; sorrow; distress. See Chagrin. "wrest": 1. To turn; to twist; esp., to twist or extort by violence; to pull of force away by, or as if by, violent wringing or twisting. "The secret wrested from me." Milton. Our country's cause, That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from our hand. Addison. They instantly wrested the government out of the hands of Hastings. Macaulay. 2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort. Wrest once the law to your authority. Shak. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. Ex. xxiii. 6. Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false interpreting the holy text. South. 3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.] 1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion. Hooker. 2. Active or moving power. [Obs.] Spenser. 3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music. The minstrel . . . wore round his neck a silver chain, by which hung the wrest, or key, with which he tuned his harp. Sir W. Scott. 4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the buckets is determined. Wrest pin (Piano Manuf.), one of the pins around which the ends of the wires are wound in a piano. Knight. -- Wrest plank (Piano Manuf.), the part in which the wrest pins are inserted. "whereunto": Same as Whereto.

Difficulty: 16.28
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 105 As the kilometres wound past, as the hundreds of people in those slums became thousands, and tens of thousands, my spirit writhed.
Sen 995 Beneath my windows the street that had writhed and toiled in daylight was silent, subdued by a night-sultriness, moist with stars.
Sen 11510 While she’d writhed and thrashed on a damp earth floor, I’d been calling down to room service to order more ice-cream and crepes.
Sen 12159 Our tongues writhed, and slithered in their caves of pleasure.
Sen 20047 Questions writhed in my shivering mind, hundreds of them, but the cold turkey was crippling me.
52 hookah prev next
Definition
A pipe with a long, flexible stem, so arranged that the smoke is cooled by being made to pass through water.

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 5744 At some of the tables there were hookah pipes, pearling the air with blue smoke, and the perfume of charras.
Sen 8878 Farid rose and placed a huge, ornate hookah, with six snaking lines, on the floor between us next to the table.
Sen 8879 He passed the smoking tubes out, and squatted next to the hookah with several matches held ready to strike.
Sen 8892 ‘Now, Mr. Lin,’ Khaderbhai said, smiling graciously as Farid removed the hookah and set about cleaning the ash-filled bowl.
Sen 9031 The sense of well-being bestowed by Khaderbhai’s benignant smile was as intoxicating as the heady mixture we’d smoked in the hookah pipe.
53 brocade prev next
Definition
Silk stuff, woven with gold and silver threads, or ornamented with raised flowers, foliage, etc.; -- also applied to other stuffs thus wrought and enriched. A gala suit of faded brocade. W. Irving.

Difficulty: 16.13
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 2642 Lettie wore a fine, bone-coloured brocade jacket over loose, dark-brown satin culottes, and boots.
Sen 8562 For a moment I looked at the marks, the curved indentations that her knees had made in the brocade cushion beside me on the floor.
Sen 8726 I kicked off my shoes at the doorway, where several other pairs of sandals and shoes had been discarded, and sat down on the plush, brocade cushion he’d indicated.
Sen 13071 He was dressed in pyjamas and a silk brocade dressing gown.
Sen 18729 Vikram wore a three-quarter-length black coat, a black-and-white brocade vest, black gaucho pants with silver piping, and his beloved hat.
54 ubiquitous prev next
Definition
Existing or being everywhere, or in all places, at the same time; omnipresent. -- U*biq"ui*tous*ly, adv. In this sense is he ubiquitous. R. D. Hitchcock. "omnipresent": Present in all places at the same time; ubiquitous; as, the omnipresent Jehovah. Prior.

Difficulty: 16.02
Appears 5 times in book:
Sen 3990 The meal usually consisted of the ubiquitous roti, spicy lentil dhal, mango chutney, and raw onions, served with lime juice.
Sen 5051 A stool found its way into my hut, and a water pot—the ubiquitous matka—and a set of saucepans, and a few pieces of cutlery.
Sen 7284 I attended to them one by one—rat bites, fever, infected rashes, ringworm—chatting with each, and catching up on the gossip that constantly swirled through the lanes and gullies like the ubiquitous dust-devils.
Sen 8062 We were in a Bumblebee, one of the ubiquitous black-and-yellow Fiat taxis, travelling south through the Steel Bazaar.
Sen 24567 The wall I’d fallen through appeared to be as solid as all the others, but it was merely a plywood screen papered over with her ubiquitous Compton pattern.
55 shamiana prev next

Difficulty: 20.69
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 17511 Johnny and a dozen or so of his neighbours were erecting the frame for a shamiana, or great tent, where the wedding ceremonies would take place.
Sen 22008 A canvas shamiana in camouflage colours provided shelter for our wounded men.
Sen 22087 When Khader completed his prayers, we carried Siddiqi’s body back to the canvas shamiana, and wrapped it in cloth until the rituals of burial could be performed on the following day.
Sen 25441 We climbed the white marble steps at the Taj, and walked through to the Shamiana Restaurant on the ground floor.
56 garad prev next

Difficulty: 19.77
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 1586 And now everyone, all the poor who were chandu smokers, they have become garad smokers.
Sen 1587 Rafiq controls the garad, the brown sugar.
Sen 26120 He’s making crores out of the fuckin’ garad, man.
Sen 27978 And Faisal and Amir, they’re running the garad.
57 baingan prev next

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 2038 What is baingan masala?
Sen 2041 What is it, you’re not enjoying eating baingan?’
Sen 2043 Baingan is good eating, too!’
Sen 2044 ‘I don’t like it baingan so much,’ he sneered, wrinkling up his short nose.
58 bejewelled prev next
Definition  (bejewel)
To ornament with a jewel or with jewels; to spangle. "Bejeweled hands." Thackeray. "spangle": 1. A small plate or boss of shining metal; something brilliant used as an ornament, especially when stitched on the dress. 2. Figuratively, any little thing that sparkless. "The rich spangles that adorn the sky." Waller. Oak spangle. See under Oak. To set or sprinkle with, or as with, spangles; to adorn with small, distinct, brilliant bodies; as, a spangled breastplate. Donne. What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty Shak. Spangled coquette (Zoöl.), a tropical humming bird (Lophornis reginæ). See Coquette, 2. To show brilliant spots or points; to glisten; to glitter. Some men by feigning words as dark as mine Make truth to spangle, and its rays to shine. Bunyan.

Difficulty: 18.01
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 1380 Indian prostitutes, garlanded with ropes of jasmine flowers and plumply wrapped in bejewelled saris, were prohibited downstairs, and only accompanied customers to the upstairs bar.
Sen 2291 The women were more conspicuously bejewelled, despite the indigence of the quarter, and what those jewels lacked in money’s worth was found in the extravagance of their design.
Sen 2489 All of them stared out at the well-fed, well-clothed purchasers and agents, following every change of expression or emphatic gesture of their bejewelled hands.
Sen 20657 The spectacular canopy was a hundred paces across, and bejewelled with tiny, polished mirrors.
59 ahey prev next
Definition
Hey; ho.

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 2421 ‘Ah, ah, maza nao Lin ahey,’ I muttered, uncertainly.
Sen 2426 ‘Maza Desh New Zealand ahey.
Sen 2427 Ata me Colabala rahella ahey.’ My country is New Zealand.
Sen 3372 ‘Maza mitra ahey,’ Prabaker answered with contrived nonchalance, trying in vain to disguise his pride.
60 kaun prev next

Difficulty: 17.51
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 3370 ‘Gora kaun hain?’ the driver asked, when we climbed aboard the step.
Sen 27727 ‘Gora kaun hai?’ the new man asked.
Sen 27734 ‘Kaun hai turn?’ he asked in an almost friendly tone.
Sen 27752 ‘Kaun hai turn?’ the big man asked again.
61 salwar prev next

Difficulty: 17.43
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 2697 She wore a long-sleeved Indian salwar top that reached to below her knees, where it met loose trousers in the same olive silk fabric.
Sen 11519 She wore a salwar kameez—the most flattering garment in the world, after the sari—in two shades of sea green.
Sen 19544 She was wearing a red salwar kameez.
Sen 28091 She was wearing a long, salwar top over loose pants.
62 tablas prev next

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 5926 The musicians accompanying the singers on the harmonium and the tablas were animated, but the singers themselves were expressionless, motionless, with their eyes closed and their hands limp.
Sen 16256 Sitting together, they cradled tablas, cymbals, flutes, and tambourines in their laps.
Sen 16298 Their voices soared over the blood-stirring thump of the tablas and the wail of the flutes.
Sen 20793 The Blind Singers cleared their throats noisily, and the assembly of musicians began the introduction to a new song with the plaintive wail of the harmonium and the blood-stirring passion of the tablas.
63 exultation prev next
Definition
The act of exulting; lively joy at success or victory, or at any advantage gained; rapturous delight; triumph. His bosom swelled with exultation. Prescott. "rapturous": Ecstatic; transporting; ravishing; feeling, expressing, or manifesting rapture; as, rapturous joy, pleasure, or delight; rapturous applause. "exulting": Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant. -- Ex*ult"ing*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 11221 That look, that frowning smile, combined shame and exultation because both are essential—shame gives exultation its purpose, and exultation gives shame its reward.
Sen 11221 That look, that frowning smile, combined shame and exultation because both are essential—shame gives exultation its purpose, and exultation gives shame its reward.
Sen 11221 That look, that frowning smile, combined shame and exultation because both are essential—shame gives exultation its purpose, and exultation gives shame its reward.
Sen 11222 We’d saved him as much by joining in his exultation as we had by witnessing his shame.
64 puzzlement prev next
Definition
The state of being puzzled; perplexity. Miss Mitford. "perplexity": The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton.

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 13024 His slack-lipped, cretinous puzzlement made me laugh the harder.
Sen 14020 ‘You really think so?’ he asked, frowning his puzzlement.
Sen 19587 ‘That’s right!’ she answered wonderingly her face frowning and smiling in puzzlement.
Sen 27988 ‘That’s not the apology, Lin,’ he explained, frowning in puzzlement.
65 reflexively prev next
Definition  (reflexive)
1. Etym: [Cf. F. réflexif.] Bending or turned backward; reflective; having respect to something past. Assurance reflexive can not be a divine faith. Hammond. 2. Implying censure. [Obs.] "What man does not resent an ugly reflexive word" South. 3. (Gram.) Having for its direct object a pronoun which refers to the agent or subject as its antecedent; -- said of certain verbs; as, the witness perjured himself; I bethought myself. Applied also to pronouns of this class; reciprocal; reflective. -- Re*flex"ive*ly, adv. -- Re*flex"ive*ness, n. In a reflex manner; reflectively. "antecedent": 1. Going before in time; prior; anterior; preceding; as, an event antecedent to the Deluge; an antecedent cause. 2. Presumptive; as, an antecedent improbability. Syn. -- Prior; previous; foregoing. 1. That which goes before in time; that which precedes. South. The Homeric mythology, as well as the Homeric language, has surely its antecedents. Max Miller. 2. One who precedes or goes in front. [Obs.] My antecedent, or my gentleman usher. Massinger. 3. pl. The earlier events of one's life; previous principles, conduct, course, history. J. H. Newman. If the troops . . . prove worthy of their antecedents, the victory is surely ours. Gen. G. McClellan. 4. (Gram.) The noun to which a relative refers; as, in the sentence "Solomon was the prince who built the temple," prince is the antecedent of who. 5. (Logic) (a) The first or conditional part of a hypothetical proposition; as, If the earth is fixed, the sun must move. (b) The first of the two propositions which constitute an enthymeme or contracted syllogism; as, Every man is mortal; therefore the king must die. 6. (Math.) The first of the two terms of a ratio; the first or third of the four terms of a proportion. In the ratio a:b, a is the antecedent, and b the consequent. "etym": See Etymon. H. F. Talbot. "pronoun": A word used instead of a noun or name, to avoid the repetition of it. The personal pronouns in English are I, thou or you, he, she, it, we, ye, and they. "bethought": imp. & p. p. of Bethink.

Difficulty: 17.29
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 6506 He smiled back at me, reflexively and in an instant of unusual clarity I saw that, for him, I was the one who inspired something of that confidence: as Abdullah was to me, so was I to Prabaker.
Sen 9987 A patch of her blonde pubic hair was visible, and I glimpsed reflexively over my shoulder to make sure that the boy couldn’t see into the room.
Sen 12738 He turned on his heel, and struck out reflexively at the nearest man crouching in the ranks.
Sen 18473 Thinking of Prabaker’s mighty smile always made me smile reflexively, as if I was looking at a happy, healthy baby.
66 himmat prev next

Difficulty: 17.25
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 26225 ‘Saatch aur Himmat.’ I spoke it aloud for them.
Sen 27661 ‘Saatch … aur himmat,’ he said, looking each man in the eye.
Sen 27663 ‘Saatch aur himmat,’ they replied.
Sen 28078 ‘Saatch aur himmat,’ Abdullah called out as I rode past him.
67 palak prev next

Difficulty: 17.22
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 2029 Now tell me, what is alu palak?’
Sen 2030 ‘Alu palak is potato and spinach.’
Sen 2033 I love to eat it, alu palak.
Sen 7623 A team of women scooped out servings of saffron rice, alu palak, kheema, bhajee, and other foods.
68 alu prev next

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 2029 Now tell me, what is alu palak?’
Sen 2030 ‘Alu palak is potato and spinach.’
Sen 2033 I love to eat it, alu palak.
Sen 7623 A team of women scooped out servings of saffron rice, alu palak, kheema, bhajee, and other foods.
69 sodden prev next
Definition
Boiled; seethed; also, soaked; heavy with moisture; saturated; as, sodden beef; sodden bread; sodden fields. To be seethed; to become sodden. To soak; to make heavy with water.

Difficulty: 16.84
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 11252 Sunlight suddenly pushed aside the sodden monsoon clouds, and for a few moments the windows of the apartment buildings across the bay were dazzling, brilliant mirrors of the golden sun.
Sen 11507 That celebration seemed vain and stupid as I hurried through the sodden lanes to the scores who were sick.
Sen 21829 When the knife left her throat, the blood gushed in heart-thrusted bursts onto her chest and the sodden ground.
Sen 22109 Snow fell in fitful gusts and squalls that left us sodden in our many-layered patchwork uniforms.
70 grizzled prev next
Definition
Gray; grayish; sprinkled or mixed with gray; of a mixed white and black. Grizzled hair flowing in elf locks. Sir W. Scott. "grayish": Somewhat gray.

Difficulty: 16.79
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 8761 Sobhan wagged his grizzled, grey head at me in greeting, fixing me with a look of steely enquiry, perhaps to make sure that I understood the honour implied in the use of first names.
Sen 9041 ‘You do not share our joy at the speaking of English, Sobhan Uncle,’ Khaderbhai said, addressing the tough, grizzled older man on his right.
Sen 25465 They were the new blood, the new mafia dons, the new lords of the city: Sanjay, the efficient killer with the movie-star looks; Andrew, the genial Goan who dreamed of taking his seat on the mafia council; Amir, the grizzled veteran with the story-teller’s gift; Faisal, the cold-hearted enforcer who only asked one question—Finger, arm, leg, or neck?—when he was given an assignment; Farid, known as the Fixer, who solved problems with fire and fear, and who’d raised six much younger brothers and sisters, alone, when his parents died in a cholera-infested slum; and Salman, the quiet one, the humble one, the natural leader, who controlled the lives of hundreds in the little empire that he’d inherited and held by force.
Sen 27308 The elderly sculptor raised his grizzled brows when we entered his hut, but affected to ignore us and continued with the work of sanding and polishing a newly moulded section of a fibreglass religious frieze almost two metres in length.
71 trudged prev next
Definition  (trudge)
To walk or march with labor; to jog along; to move wearily. And trudged to Rome upon my naked feet. Dryden. "wearily": In a weary manner.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 312 Each one of them seized a bag, suitcase, or backpack and trudged off, leading his party into the flak-traffic with brisk determination.
Sen 3465 We’d passed countless fields of maize and banana groves in the last hour of the bus ride, and then on foot we trudged along the dirt road between endless rows of millet plants.
Sen 21437 We trudged between Pathaan Khel and Khairo Thaana; between Humai Khaarez and Haji Aagha Muhammad.
Sen 22935 The horse trudged through the snow for a day and half a night before it crumpled, collapsed, and died almost three kilometres from our camp.
72 tottering prev next
Definition  (totter)
1. To shake so as to threaten a fall; to vacillate; to be unsteady; to stagger; as,an old man totters with age. "As a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence." Ps. lxii. 3. 2. To shake; to reel; to lean; to waver. Troy nods from high, and totters to her fall. Dryden. "vacillate": 1. To move one way and the other; to reel or stagger; to waver. [A spheroid] is always liable to shift and vacillatefrom one axis to another. Paley. 2. To fluctuate in mind or opinion; to be unsteady or inconstant; to waver. Syn. -- See Fluctuate.

Difficulty: 16.67
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 11206 Stumbling and tottering on his platform shoes, he skipped to the centre of the dancers.
Sen 12847 Not a few men, shuffling uncertainly on thin, tottering legs, talked a twitching madness to themselves, and stumbled into the walls until we turned them gently and set them on a new course.
Sen 20333 When he tried to speak English, the words came out in awkward, truncated couplets, top-heavy with meanings and tottering on small feet of blunt sense.
Sen 24027 I tried to walk, but my wounded shins refused to obey me, and the best I could manage was a tottering shuffle.
73 taciturn prev next
Definition
Habitually silent; not given to converse; not apt to talk or speak. -- Tac"i*turn*ly, adv. Syn. -- Silent; reserved. Taciturn, Silent. Silent has reference to the act; taciturn, to the habit. A man may be silent from circumstances; he is taciturn from disposition. The loquacious man is at times silent; one who is taciturn may now and then make an effort at conversation. "loquacious": 1. Given to continual talking; talkative; garrulous. Loquacious, brawling, ever in the wrong. Dryden. 2. Speaking; expressive. [R.] J. Philips. 3. Apt to blab and disclose secrets. Syn. -- Garrulous; talkative. See Garrulous.

Difficulty: 16.66
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 1221 The dark, brooding, undernourished young man was Modena, a dour and taciturn Spaniard who did black-market business with French, Italian, and African tourists.
Sen 14936 He accepted my taciturn mood, and we worked through the strenuous exercise-routine in silence.
Sen 18169 Modena, tougher than anyone knew and taciturn to the end, refused to tell him that Ulla was hiding in an adjoining room, only footsteps away, with all the money.
Sen 26558 Modena had been one of the most taciturn men I’d ever known.
74 reddened prev next
Definition  (redden)
To make red or somewhat red; to give a red color to. To grow or become red; to blush. Appius reddens at each word you speak. Pope. He no sooner saw that her eye glistened and her cheek reddened than his obstinacy was at once subbued. Sir W. SCott.

Difficulty: 16.64
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 6230 Hamid was a good doctor, and when, after an hour of discussion, I looked into his prematurely lined face, the eyes burned and reddened by lack of sleep, I felt shamed by his honest exhaustion.
Sen 8839 Although I had nothing whatsoever to do with Sapna and knew almost nothing about him, my face reddened with that special guilty blush of the completely innocent man.
Sen 26660 And as his eyes reddened and simmered into tears that ran, exactly, in the channelling scars that pierced his cheeks I held the stare, and nodded my head, and said nothing at all.
Sen 28075 He looked up quickly, and the warmth that reddened his eyes vied with a grim warning clamped in the bad-luck horseshoe of his mouth.
75 prise prev next
Definition
An enterprise. [Obs.] Spenser. See Prize, n., 5. Also Prize, v. t.

Difficulty: 16.62
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 2129 I reached out to the driver, trying to prise him from the obstructing rim of the steering wheel, but Prabaker’s hands were on me again, brutally rough.
Sen 16377 It took me five minutes to calm him down, and even then I had to invent a mission for him —checking for the Africans at the hotels he knew well—in order to prise him from my side.
Sen 20281 He climbed down, and began to prise my boots from the stirrups.
Sen 22603 I tried to prise the gun free with my left hand, but all my fingers were so cramped that I gave it up.
76 sanguine prev next
Definition
1. Having the color of blood; red. Of his complexion he was sanguine. Chaucer. Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. Milton. 2. Characterized by abundance and active circulation of blood; as, a sanguine bodily temperament. 3. Warm; ardent; as, a sanguine temper. 4. Anticipating the best; not desponding; confident; full of hope; as, sanguine of success. Syn. -- Warm; ardent; lively; confident; hopeful. 1. Blood color; red. Spenser. 2. Anything of a blood-red, as cloth. [Obs.] In sanguine and in pes he clad was all. Chaucer. 3. (Min.) Bloodstone. 4. Red crayon. See the Note under Crayon, 1. To stain with blood; to impart the color of blood to; to ensanguine. In a sanguine manner. I can not speculate quite so sanguinely as he does. Burke. "sanguinely": In a sanguine manner. I can not speculate quite so sanguinely as he does. Burke. "ensanguine": To stain or cover with blood; to make bloody, or of a blood-red color; as, an ensanguined hue. "The ensanguined field." Milton. "bloodstone": (a) A green siliceous stone sprinkled with red jasper, as if with blood; hence the name; -- called also heliotrope. (b) Hematite, an ore of iron yielding a blood red powder or "streak." "pes": The distal segment of the hind limb of vertebrates, including the tarsus and foot.

Difficulty: 16.47
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 3869 She smiled back at him, despite herself, and felt a rush of well-being, an indefinable but overwhelmingly sanguine cheerfulness.
Sen 12099 And I did like Ulla: she was beautiful, and she was just naive enough, just sanguine enough to stop sympathy slipping into pity.
Sen 14051 Even the hard-nosed taxi lords weren’t immune to his sanguine charm.
Sen 16038 It was a genial, sanguine meeting, and I rose to leave with the strength and confidence that those honest, simple, decent men always inspired in me.
77 judicious prev next
Definition
Of or relating to a court; judicial. [Obs.] His last offenses to us Shall have judicious hearing. Shak. 2. Directed or governed by sound judgment; having sound judgment; wise; prudent; sagacious; discreet. He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows The fits o' the season. Shak. Syn. -- Prudent; discreet; rational; wise; skillful; discerning; sagacious; well-advised. "sagacious": 1. Of quick sense perceptions; keen-scented; skilled in following a trail. Sagacious of his quarry from so far. Milton. 2. Hence, of quick intellectual perceptions; of keen penetration and judgment; discerning and judicious; knowing; far-sighted; shrewd; sage; wise; as, a sagacious man; a sagacious remark. Instinct . . . makes them, many times, sagacious above our apprehension. Dr. H. More. Only sagacious heads light on these observations, and reduce them into general propositions. Locke. Syn. -- See Shrewd. -- Sa*ga"cious*ly, adv. -- Sa-ga"cious*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.46
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 3878 Judicious investments in the enterprises of her neighbours and a careful husbanding of their resources ensured that their losses were few.
Sen 5239 Everything, from judicious caution to superstitious terror, screamed at me not to go out there again.
Sen 20453 The army secretly supported extremists from the rival groups with weapons, money, and the judicious application of favours.
Sen 22886 In all his deliberations, the Palestinian was intense and tireless and judicious, to the point of being solemn.
78 dwindled prev next
Definition  (dwindle)
To diminish; to become less; to shrink; to waste or consume away; to become degenerate; to fall away. Weary sennights nine times nine Shall he dwindle, peak and pine. Shak. Religious societies, though begun with excellent intentions, are said to have dwindled into factious clubs. Swift. 1. To make less; to bring low. Our drooping days are dwindled down to naught. Thomson. 2. To break; to disperse. [R.] Clarendon. The process of dwindling; dwindlement; decline; degeneracy. [R.] Johnson. "clarendon": A style of type having a narrow and heave face. It is made in all sizes. Note: This line is in nonpareil Clarendon. "dwindlement": The act or process of dwindling; a dwindling. [R.] Mrs. Oliphant. "factious": 1. Given to faction; addicted to form parties and raise dissensions, in opposition to government or the common good; turbulent; seditious; prone to clamor against public measures or men; -- said of persons. Factious for the house of Lancaster. Shak. 2. Pertaining to faction; proceeding from faction; indicating, or characterized by, faction; -- said of acts or expressions; as, factious quarrels. Headlong zeal or factious fury. Burke. -- Fac"tious*ly, adv. -- Fac"tious-ness, n. "degeneracy": 1. The act of becoming degenerate; a growing worse. Willful degeneracy from goodness. Tillotson. 2. The state of having become degenerate; decline in good qualities; deterioration; meanness. Degeneracy of spirit in a state of slavery. Addison. To recover mankind out of their universal corruption and degeneracy. S. Clarke.

Difficulty: 16.42
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 11234 As the music dwindled to an echo in our minds, the day-to-day and minute-to-minute of slum life slowly reclaimed the lanes.
Sen 11505 The treatment queue that had begun with hundreds, nine months before, had finally dwindled to none.
Sen 12603 And the attack, which had begun with frenzied violence, dwindled to fewer blows as I walked the gauntlet.
Sen 18494 And the music dwindled with the distance until it was as faint and diminishable as any moment of truth.
79 woollen prev next

Difficulty: 16.40
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 1190 In defiance of the humid climate, he always wore baggy canvas trousers, a denim shirt, and a rumpled, grey woollen sports coat.
Sen 7086 Mixed with it was a smell like new leather shoes, and the smell of a child’s woollen blanket.
Sen 10034 I removed it, and covered him with a light woollen shawl that was hanging from a set of hooks.
Sen 27669 ‘Nothing,’ he breathed, his voice like the rustle of a woollen blanket.
80 consular prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to a consul; performing the duties of a consul; as, consular power; consular dignity; consular officers.

Difficulty: 16.38
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 5390 A six-lane road separated the seaside path from a horizon-wide, incurving crescent of affluence: fine homes, expensive apartments, consular offices, first-class restaurants, and hotels that looked out over the black and heaving sea.
Sen 8174 They declared that Gilbert Parker was a consular under-secretary at the embassy of the United States of America.
Sen 17448 But they couldn’t obtain the visas legally, and false visas were impracticable because they were immediately checked against the consular register.
Sen 20818 Madame Zhou had punished me for defying her, for daring to challenge her, for impersonating an American consular officer, for taking Lisa Carter away from her and, yes, perhaps for loving Karla.
81 smouldering prev next
Definition
Being in a state of suppressed activity; quiet but not dead. Some evil chance Will make the smoldering scandal break and blaze. Tennyson.

Difficulty: 16.37
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 672 He leaned forward and took up a length of smouldering hemp rope that was hanging from a hook on the telegraph pole, next to the cigarette stall.
Sen 4929 A woman from the team was carrying a baby they’d rescued from the smouldering rubble.
Sen 11096 Parvati watched us from the corners of her smouldering eyes.
Sen 22189 Reassured, perhaps, that I was listening to him, he looked back to the smouldering horizon, and spoke again.
82 archway prev next
Definition
A way or passage under an arch.

Difficulty: 16.35
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 1315 The quiet Spaniard left the table without a word, and walked toward the open archway that led to the street.
Sen 9917 Frustrated and wavering, I hesitated at the large, open archway of the mosque.
Sen 12302 They helped me into the archway of the first open cell-room, and eased me to the concrete floor.
Sen 12556 He pointed toward an archway that led into the prison’s interior.
83 wearily prev next
Definition
In a weary manner.

Difficulty: 16.34
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 20207 Two falls later, as I climbed wearily into the saddle, I heard a familiar voice.
Sen 20877 ‘Reading is still something mysterious, in the country of my birth, and the cause of some fear and much superstition,’ Khader said wearily, rubbing a hand over his tired, brown face.
Sen 21168 ‘There is no man who knows these mountains, and the region between here and Kandahar, better than Habib,’ Khader concluded, sighing wearily.
Sen 21967 Nazeer led several horses forward, and we climbed wearily into the saddles.
84 agonising prev next

Difficulty: 16.32
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 13146 The many hundreds of small and large cuts that I’d sustained on the day and the night of the beating caused me agonising pain.
Sen 21975 The cramp quickly became a piercing knot of pain; and the more that I tried to ignore it, the more agonising it felt.
Sen 23093 One of the agonising truths for a battle medic is that you pray as hard and almost as often for men to die as you pray for them to live.
Sen 27816 He’d missed the killing blow, a direct hit, but it was still enough to make me curl and roll over in agonising pain.
85 upturned prev next
Definition  (upturn)
To turn up; to direct upward; to throw up; as, to upturn the ground in plowing. "A sea of upturned faces." D. Webster. So scented the grim feature, and upturned His nostril wide into the murky air. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.31
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 311 Prabaker gestured with his upturned palm to those touts and guides who’d managed to secure customers from among the tourists.
Sen 3542 Prabaker and his father had the same almost perfectly round face and the same upturned, button nose.
Sen 12872 Sitting in circles of twelve or more men, and tapping on their upturned aluminium plates as if they were tabla drums, the prisoners sang love songs from their favourite movies.
Sen 16466 They leapt over the upturned bed and fell on him, stomping and kicking him until he stopped moving.
86 rasped prev next
Definition  (rasp)
1. To rub or file with a rasp; to rub or grate with a rough file; as, to rasp wood to make it smooth; to rasp bones to powder. 2. Hence, figuratively: To grate harshly upon; to offend by coarse or rough treatment or language; as, some sounds rasp the ear; his insults rasped my temper. 1. A coarse file, on which the cutting prominences are distinct points raised by the oblique stroke of a sharp punch, instead of lines raised by a chisel, as on the true file. 2. The raspberry. [Obs.] "Set sorrel amongst rasps, and the rasps will be smaller." Bacon. Rasp palm (Bot.), a Brazilian palm tree (Iriartea exorhiza) which has strong aërial roots like a screw pine. The roots have a hard, rough surface, and are used by the natives for graters and rasps, whence the common name. "exorhiza": A plant Whose radicle is not inclosed or sheathed by the cotyledons or plumule. Gray. "oblique": 1. Not erect or perpendicular; neither parallel to, nor at right angles from, the base; slanting; inclined. It has a direction oblique to that of the former motion. Cheyne. 2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister. The love we bear our friends... Hath in it certain oblique ends. Drayton. This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power. De Quincey. Then would be closed the restless, oblique eye. That looks for evil, like a treacherous spy. Wordworth. 3. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral. His natural affection in a direct line was strong, in an oblique but weak. Baker. Oblique angle, Oblique ascension, etc. See under Angle,Ascension, etc. -- Oblique arch (Arch.), an arch whose jambs are not at right angles with the face, and whose intrados is in consequence askew. -- Oblique bridge, a skew bridge. See under Bridge, n. -- Oblique case (Gram.), any case except the nominative. See Case, n. -- Oblique circle (Projection), a circle whose plane is oblique to the axis of the primitive plane. -- Oblique fire (Mil.), a fire the direction of which is not perpendicular to the line fired at. -- Oblique flank (Fort.), that part of the curtain whence the fire of the opposite bastion may be discovered. Wilhelm. -- Oblique leaf. (Bot.) (a) A leaf twisted or inclined from the normal position. (b) A leaf having one half different from the other. -- Oblique line (Geom.), a line that, meeting or tending to meet another, makes oblique angles with it. -- Oblique motion (Mus.), a kind of motion or progression in which one part ascends or descends, while the other prolongs or repeats the same tone, as in the accompanying example. -- Oblique muscle (Anat.), a muscle acting in a direction oblique to the mesial plane of the body, or to the associated muscles; -- applied especially to two muscles of the eyeball. -- Oblique narration. See Oblique speech. -- Oblique planes (Dialing), planes which decline from the zenith, or incline toward the horizon. -- Oblique sailing (Naut.), the movement of a ship when she sails upon some rhumb between the four cardinal points, making an oblique angle with the meridian. -- Oblique speech (Rhet.), speech which is quoted indirectly, or in a different person from that employed by the original speaker. -- Oblique sphere (Astron. & Geog.), the celestial or terrestrial sphere when its axis is oblique to the horizon of the place; or as it appears to an observer at any point on the earth except the poles and the equator. -- Oblique step (Mil.), a step in marching, by which the soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25º. It is not now practiced. Wilhelm. -- Oblique system of coördinates (Anal. Geom.), a system in which the coördinate axes are oblique to each other. An oblique line. 1. To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction. Projecting his person towards it in a line which obliqued from the bottom of his spine. Sir. W. Scott. 2. (Mil.) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; -- formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left.

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 6117 ‘No, Linbaba, not about that,’ he rasped, in a scratchy whisper.
Sen 8000 ‘What the fuck ever happened to good, old, meaningless sex, without any strings attached?’ she rasped, her lips drawn tightly over her teeth.
Sen 8433 Her voice rasped the word across our skin.
Sen 22738 ‘It should have been donkeys,’ he rasped.
87 furrows prev next
Definition  (furrow)
1. A trench in the earth made by, or as by, a plow. 2. Any trench, channel, or groove, as in wood or metal; a wrinkle on the face; as, the furrows of age. Farrow weed a weed which grows on plowed land. Shak. -- To draw a straight furrow, to live correctly; not to deviate from the right line of duty. Lowell. 1. To cut a furrow in; to make furrows in; to plow; as, to furrow the ground or sea. Shak. 2. To mark with channels or with wrinkles. Thou canst help time to furrow me with age. Shak. Fair cheeks were furrowed with hot tears. Byron.

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 7449 Prabaker and I laughed, and the vaguely suspicious furrows in her brow deepened.
Sen 8906 Deep suspicions were planted in the furrows of his frown.
Sen 17000 From all its major restaurants, bars, and a hundred other windows, the Sea Rock scanned the endlessly shifting peaks and furrows of the Arabian Sea.
Sen 22898 Seven lines and ridges like planter’s furrows creased his broad, high brow.
88 cursory prev next
Definition
1. Running about; not stationary. [Obs.] 2. Characterized by haste; hastily or superficially performed; slight; superficial; careless. Events far too important to be treated in a cursory manner. Hallam.

Difficulty: 16.23
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 58 The various Indian officials assumed that I was travelling with that relaxed and guileless group, and gave me no more than a cursory check.
Sen 6394 No-one gave it more than a cursory glance.
Sen 17450 As a gora, a well-dressed foreigner of European appearance, I was never subjected to anything but a cursory examination.
Sen 19442 My interactions with most of them had been cursory, it seemed to me, and yet I missed the reassurance of their presence in the city almost as much as I missed the company of my dead friends.
89 plaintive prev next
Definition
1. Repining; complaining; lamenting. Dryden. 2. Expressive of sorrow or melancholy; mournful; sad. "The most plaintive ditty." Landor. -- Plain"tive*ly, adv. -- Plain"tive*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.23
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 545 Every kind of illness, disability, and hardship paraded there, stood at the doorways of restaurants and shops, or approached people on the street with professionally plaintive cries.
Sen 12116 The taxi pulled away, and she called out with a plaintive urgency that seemed harsh and almost hysterical in the stillness of the night.
Sen 13895 I ordered for Didier, and let my thoughts wander while we listened to the plaintive screech of the radio announcer.
Sen 20793 The Blind Singers cleared their throats noisily, and the assembly of musicians began the introduction to a new song with the plaintive wail of the harmonium and the blood-stirring passion of the tablas.
90 exhilaration prev next
Definition
1. The act of enlivening the spirits; the act of making glad or cheerful; a gladdening. 2. The state of being enlivened or cheerful. Exhilaration hath some affinity with joy, though it be a much lighter motion. Bacon. Syn. -- Animation; joyousness; gladness; cheerfulness; gayety; hilarity; merriment; jollity. "hilarity": Boisterous mirth; merriment; jollity. Goldsmith. Note: Hilarity differs from joy: the latter, excited by good news or prosperity, is an affection of the mind; the former, produced by social pleasure, drinking, etc., which rouse the animal spirits, is more demonstrative. Syn. -- Glee; cheerfulness; mirth; merriment; gayety; joyousness; exhilaration; joviality; jollity. "gayety": 1. The state of being gay; merriment; mirth; acts or entertainments prompted by, or inspiring, merry delight; -- used often in the plural; as, the gayeties of the season. 2. Finery; show; as, the gayety of dress. Syn. -- Liveliness; mirth; animation; vivacity; glee; blithesomeness; sprightliness; jollity. See Liveliness. "jollity": Noisy mirth; gayety; merriment; festivity; boisterous enjoyment. Chaucer. All now was turned to jollity and game. Milton. He with a proud jollity commanded him to leave that quarrel only for him, who was only worthy to enter into it. Sir P. Sidney. Syn. -- Merriment; mirth; gayety; festivity; hilarity. "cheerfulness": Good spirits; a state of moderate joy or gayety; alacrity. "gladness": State or quality of being glad; pleasure; joyful satisfaction; cheerfulness. They . . . did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Acts ii. 46. Note: Gladness is rarely or never equivalent to mirth, merriment, gayety, and triumph, and it usually expresses less than delight. It sometimes expresses great joy. The Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. Esther viii. 17.

Difficulty: 16.22
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 59 I pushed through alone to the slap and sting of sunlight outside the airport, intoxicated with the exhilaration of escape: another wall scaled, another border crossed, another day and night to run and hide.
Sen 15861 The heart-squeezing, enlivening exhilaration of it was so powerful that it wasn’t until an hour later, when we entered Abdul Ghani’s passport workshop, that I could give my full attention to the man and the moment that we shared.
Sen 21068 That, too, was a night of wheeling fears and exhilaration and dread.
Sen 23339 It was the exhilaration of men who were risking everything, risking life and death, on one throw of the dice.
91 fidgeted prev next
Definition  (fidget)
To move uneasily one way and the other; to move irregularly, or by fits and starts. Moore. 1. Uneasiness; restlessness. Cowper. 2. pl. A general nervous restlessness, manifested by incessant changes of position; dysphoria. Dunglison. "dysphoria": Impatience under affliction; morbid restlessness; dissatisfaction; the fidgets. "uneasiness": 1. The quality or state of being uneasy; restlessness; disquietude; anxiety. 2. The quality of making uneasy; discomfort; as, the uneasiness of the road. [Obs.] Bp. Burnet. "irregularly": In an irregular manner. "uneasily": In an uneasy manner.

Difficulty: 16.20
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 8093 I fidgeted with the prickly collar of the shirt.
Sen 8314 Karla fidgeted, tossed her beedie cigarette out of the open window, and rifled through the contents of her patent-leather shoulder bag.
Sen 24399 Every time I accelerated away, he dragged his feet on the road and fidgeted for several seconds until he found the footrests.
Sen 26482 ‘I’m sorry for running away,’ he said quietly, his eyes fixed on his hands as they fidgeted in his lap.
92 emphasise prev next

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 2552 He leaned slightly forward and inclined his head to one side, his black curly hair shaking as if to emphasise the points in his explanation.
Sen 4882 ‘I hate these fucking fires!’ Johnny cursed, slamming downward with a wet sack to emphasise his words.
Sen 21705 ‘Remember,’ Khader said insistently, resting his hand on my forearm to emphasise his words.
Sen 24941 ‘I’m not sure he wanted that from the start,’ Salman Mustaan interrupted, shaking his head at his close friend to emphasise his point.
93 scrupulously prev next
Definition  (scrupulous)
1. Full ofscrupules; inclined to scruple; nicely doubtful; hesitating to determine or to act, from a fear of offending or of doing wrong. Abusing their liberty, to the offense of their weak brethren which were scrupulous. Hooker. 2. Careful; cautious; exact; nice; as, scrupulous abstinence from labor; scrupulous performance of duties. 3. Given to making objections; captious. [Obs.] Equality of two domestic powers Breed scrupulous faction. Shak. 4. Liable to be doubted; doubtful; nice. [Obs.] The justice of that cause ought to be evident; not obscrure, not scrupulous. Bacon. Syn. -- Cautious; careful; conscientious; hesitating. -- Scru"pu*lous*ly, adv. -- Scru"pu*lous*ness, n. "scruple": 1. A weight of twenty grains; the third part of a dram. 2. Hence, a very small quantity; a particle. I will not bate thee a scruple. Shak. 3. Hesitation as to action from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; unwillingness, doubt, or hesitation proceeding from motives of conscience. He was made miserable by the conflict between his tastes and his scruples. Macaulay. To make scruple, to hesitate from conscientious motives; to scruple. Locke. To be reluctant or to hesitate, as regards an action, on account of considerations of conscience or expedience. We are often over-precise, scrupling to say or do those things which lawfully we may. Fuller. Men scruple at the lawfulness of a set form of divine worship. South. 1. To regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question. Others long before them . . . scrupled more the books of hereties than of gentiles. Milton. 2. To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple. [R.] Letters which did still scruple many of them. E. Symmons. "captious": 1. Art to catch at faults; disposed to find fault or to cavil; eager to object; difficult to please. A captius and suspicious. Stillingfleet. I am sensible I have not disposed my materials to adbide the test of a captious controversy. Bwike. 2. Fitted to harass, perplex, or insnare; insidious; troublesome. Captious restraints on navigation. Bancroft. Syn. -- Caviling, carping, fault-finding; censorious; hypercritical; peevish, fretful; perverse; troublesome. -- Captious, caviling, Carping. A captious person is one who has a fault-finding habit or manner, or is disposed to catch at faults, errors, etc., with quarrelsome intent; a caviling person is disposed to raise objections on frivolous grounds; carping implies that one is given to ill-natured, persistent, or unreasonable fault-finding, or picking up of the words or actions of others. Caviling is the carping of argument, carping the caviling of ill temper. C. J. Smith.

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 1378 Leopold’s was an unofficial free zone, scrupulously ignored by the otherwise efficient officers of the Colaba police station, directly across the busy street.
Sen 2297 The buildings were cracked and smeared, the constricted passage-ways were crowded with goats, chickens, dogs, and people, and each thin face showed the shade and hollows of penury, but the streets and the people were stainlessly, scrupulously clean.
Sen 22913 Face to face, Afghan men were generous, friendly, honest, and scrupulously courteous to me.
Sen 27186 But they hadn’t lived in those miraculous acres, and they hadn’t learned that to survive in such a writhe of hope and sorrow the people had to be scrupulously and heartbreakingly honest.
94 unfurled prev next
Definition  (unfurl)
To loose from a furled state; to unfold; to expand; to open or spread; as, to unfurl sails; to unfurl a flag.

Difficulty: 16.14
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 2393 The fine dagger-line of his moustache accentuated his scowl, and he looked at me with such undiluted loathing that a little prayer unfurled itself in my mind.
Sen 17146 And the whole, improbably coherent expression of love and life, drama and comedy, was articulated in the delicate, unfurled elegance of a graceful hand, or the wink of a seductive eye.
Sen 19373 In the hut he’d once shared with Parvati, Prabaker’s mother, Rukhmabai, unfurled her thigh-length hair.
Sen 21476 It was the perfect place for an ambush and, in anticipation, Khader rode at the head of our column with his green-and-white banner unfurled.
95 stirrup prev next
Definition
1. A kind of ring, or bent piece of metal, wood, leather, or the like, horizontal in one part for receiving the foot of a rider, and attached by a strap to the saddle, -- used to assist a person in mounting a horse, and to enable him to sit steadily in riding, as well as to relieve him by supporting a part of the weight of the body. Our host upon his stirpoes stood anon. Chaucer. 2. (Carp. & Mach.) Any piece resembling in shape the stirrup of a saddle, and used as a support, clamp, etc. See Bridle iron. 3. (Naut.) A rope secured to a yard, with a thimble in its lower end for supporting a footrope. Totten. Stirrup bone (Anat.), the stapes. -- Stirrup cup, a parting cup taken after mounting. -- Stirrup iron, an iron stirrup. -- Stirrup leather, or Stirrup strap, the strap which attaches a stirrup to the saddle. See Stirrup, 1. "stapes": The innermost of the ossicles of the ear; the stirrup, or stirrup bone; -- so called from its form. See Illust. of Ear. "footrope": (a) The rope rigged below a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling; -- formerly called a horse. (b) That part of the boltrope to which the lower edge of a sail is sewed.

Difficulty: 16.14
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 21231 He put his left foot in his stirrup and swung into the saddle with an effortless spring.
Sen 21255 I put my foot in the stirrup and sprang off with my right foot.
Sen 21976 Attempting to relieve the stress on my hip, I took my right foot out of the stirrup and tried to stretch my leg.
Sen 21978 Without warning, my left foot gave way beneath me as my boot slipped from the stirrup, and I felt myself falling sideways out of the saddle toward the deep, hard drop to the stones.
96 itinerant prev next
Definition
Passing or traveling about a country; going or preaching on a circuit; wandering; not settled; as, an itinerant preacher; an itinerant peddler. The king's own courts were then itinerant, being kept in the king's palace, and removing with his household in those royal progresses which he continually made. Blackstone. One who travels from place to place, particularly a preacher; one who is unsettled. Glad to turn itinerant, To stroll and teach from town to town. Hudibras.

Difficulty: 16.08
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 3271 And in truth, the politeness and consideration shown by the peasant farmers, travelling salesmen, itinerant workers, and returning sons and fathers and husbands did make for an agreeable journey, despite the cramped conditions and relentlessly increasing heat.
Sen 5360 Lunatics, eccentrics, and itinerant entertainers such as musicians, acrobats, jugglers, actors, and snake charmers were occasionally roughed up, but they were invariably excluded from the round-up.
Sen 7466 Many of the tradesmen were itinerant workers who followed where their skills were needed, and whose real homes were hundreds of kilometres away in other states.
Sen 27291 For a moment I felt a thrill of wonder and envy that the little community of neighbours and friends worried so much about the problems of two itinerant bear-handlers—and the bear, of course.
97 revulsion prev next
Definition
1. A strong pulling or drawing back; withdrawal. "Revulsions and pullbacks." SSir T. Brovne. 2. A sudden reaction; a sudden and complete change; -- applied to the feelings. A sudden and violent revulsion of feeling, both in the Parliament and the country, followed. Macaulay. 3. (Med.) The act of turning or diverting any disease from one part of the body to another. It resembles derivation, but is usually applied to a more active form of counter irritation. "derivation": 1. A leading or drawing off of water from a stream or source. [Obs.] T. Burnet. 2. The act of receiving anything from a source; the act of procuring an effect from a cause, means, or condition, as profits from capital, conclusions or opinions from evidence. As touching traditional communication, . . . I do not doubt but many of those truths have had the help of that derivation. Sir M. Hale. 3. The act of tracing origin or descent, as in grammar or genealogy; as, the derivation of a word from an Aryan root. 4. The state or method of being derived; the relation of origin when established or asserted. 5. That from which a thing is derived. 6. That which is derived; a derivative; a deduction. From the Euphrates into an artificial derivation of that river. Gibbon. 7. (Math.) The operation of deducing one function from another according to some fixed law, called the law of derivation, as the of differentiation or of integration. 8. (Med.) A drawing of humors or fluids from one part of the body to another, to relieve or lessen a morbid process.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 11046 ‘Et bien, she began by detesting him but, through the persistence of his devoted romantic attentions, he has managed to arouse in her what I can only describe as an amiable revulsion.’
Sen 12426 I’d been raised in a family of Fabian socialists, and I’d inherited their stubborn, impractical revulsion for social iniquity in all its forms.
Sen 18314 And was there something else in her eyes: was it revulsion, or was it more terrible than that?
Sen 22583 He stood his ground a moment more, and I could feel the urge to take the gun out and shoot him: an urge that was drowning me in cold, shivering waves of revulsion and rage.
98 goaded prev next
Definition  (goad)
A pointed instrument used to urge on a beast; hence, any necessity that urges or stimulates. The daily goad urging him to the daily toil. Macaulay. To prick; to drive with a goad; hence, to urge forward, or to rouse by anything pungent, severe, irritating, or inflaming; to stimulate. That temptation that doth goad us on. Shak. Syn. -- To urge; stimulate; excite; arouse; irritate; incite; instigate.

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 4071 Then, with Prabaker leading the way, the crowd of villagers goaded, dragged, and pushed me toward the river.
Sen 10466 The wild howling goaded the most maddened of them to make a series of rushing feints from several directions.
Sen 21712 Even the right things that I did were too often goaded by the wrong reasons.
Sen 21855 The gleam in his eyes goaded me for another heartbeat of vexation and I almost shouted at him, but then I saw the warmth in his expression, and the concern.
99 throbbed prev next
Definition  (throb)
To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. My heart Throbs to know one thing. Shak. Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast. Shak. A beat, or strong pulsation, as of the heart and arteries; a violent beating; a papitation: The IMPATIENT throbs and longings of a soul That pants and reaches after distant good. Addison. "pulsation": 1. (Physiol.) A beating or throbbing, especially of the heart or of an artery, or in an inflamed part; a beat of the pulse. 2. A single beat or throb of a series. 3. A stroke or impulse by which some medium is affected, as in the propagation of sounds. 4. (Law) Any touching of another's body willfully or in anger. This constitutes battery. By the Cornelian law, pulsation as well as verberation is prohibited. Blackstone. "pulsate": To throb, as a pulse; to beat, as the heart. The heart of a viper or frog will continue to pulsate long after it is taken from the body. E. Darwin. "rapidity": The quality or state of being rapid; swiftness; celerity; velocity; as, the rapidity of growth or improvement. Syn. -- -- Rapidness; haste; speed; celerity; velocity; swiftness; fleetness; quickness; agility. "palpitate": To beat rapidly and more strongly than usual; to throb; to bound with emotion or exertion; to pulsate violently; to flutter; -- said specifically of the heart when its action is abnormal, as from excitement.

Difficulty: 16.03
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 4596 The Baba standing before us was tall and lean, but his legs were so thickly swollen that dreadful ropes of distended veins throbbed on their surfaces.
Sen 5052 As evening throbbed in a scarlet arch of sky, we sat in a group, near my hut, to eat and talk.
Sen 11552 I did need help, not just with the physical work of nursing the people, but also with the doubt and fear and shame that throbbed in my throat and chest.
Sen 23868 Another fierce pain throbbed at my forehead.
100 sprawl prev next
Definition
1. To spread and stretch the body or limbs carelessly in a horizontal position; to lie with the limbs stretched out ungracefully. 2. To spread irregularly, as vines, plants, or tress; to spread ungracefully, as chirography. 3. To move, when lying down, with awkward extension and motions of the limbs; to scramble in creeping. The birds were not fledged; but upon sprawling and struggling to get clear of the flame, down they tumbled. L'Estrange. "chirography": 1. The art of writing or engrossing; handwriting; as, skilled in chirography. 2. The art of telling fortunes by examining the hand. "tress": 1. A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet. Her yellow hair was braided in a tress. Chaucer. Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare. Pope. 2. Fig.: A knot or festoon, as of flowers. Keats. "irregularly": In an irregular manner.

Difficulty: 16.00
Appears 4 times in book:
Sen 100 Nothing in the enormous sprawl of it rose much above the height of a man.
Sen 6279 The elastic tolerance of slum-dwellers—who accommodated every caste and race and condition of person within their sprawl of huts—rarely extended to lepers.
Sen 7478 The sprawl of fragile huts spread outward like a shallow, tender root-system for the huge towers that were to come.
Sen 26092 And the informing rate in the areas of his control, the amount of unsolicited information supplied to the police—a sure indicator of public popularity or displeasure—was lower than in any other area across the whole seething sprawl of Bombay.
101 paapi prev next

Difficulty: 19.99
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 17624 ‘The movie’s called Paanch Paapi,’ she said.
Sen 17627 paapi, not papi.
Sen 17629 Paapi means thief, and papi means kiss.
102 vachan prev next

Difficulty: 19.77
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 6995 They were speaking in Hindi, and I was unfamiliar with the word vachan, meaning promise.
Sen 6998 Several people were repeating the Hindi word vachan.
Sen 7013 But there is a vachan, a promise, before they will give it the message.
103 cameleers prev next

Difficulty: 19.77
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 21485 Although the two-humped Bactrian camel is native to Afghanistan, the rider’s was a single-humped Arabian camel; the type bred by long distance cameleers of the northern Tajik region for use in extremes of cold.
Sen 21567 That group of Afghan nomads, cameleers, sheep and goat herders, farmers, and guerrilla fighters lent credibility to the idea, for they snored so thunderously and with such persistent ferocity through the long, cold night that they would’ve frightened a pride of ravenous lions into scattering like startled mice.
Sen 23168 Juma’s Tajik clans of cameleers were traditional rivals of the Mohmand Hazarbuz people of Hanif and Jalalaad in the nomadic transport of trade goods.
104 feni prev next

Difficulty: 19.08
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 15297 He insisted that we finish the meal with a long glass of the locally brewed coconut feni, and followed that with an equally long glass of cashew feni.
Sen 15297 He insisted that we finish the meal with a long glass of the locally brewed coconut feni, and followed that with an equally long glass of cashew feni.
Sen 15311 There was a bottle of coconut feni on the table, with two glasses.
105 shirtsleeve prev next

Difficulty: 18.98
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 6113 We took a few steps, but Johnny Cigar came after us and tugged at my shirtsleeve, pulling me a pace or two behind Abdullah.
Sen 27606 Pushing between us, he seized Andrew by the wrist and a scruff of shirtsleeve.
Sen 28602 At that moment I felt a tug at my shirtsleeve and I turned my head to see what seemed to be the ghost of a gigantic smile with a very small man attached to it.
106 pattu prev next

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 20789 Yes, with a cap to cover your white hair, and a pattu, a shawl, to throw over your broad shoulders and chest.
Sen 23655 Habib’s pattu shawl was rucked up around his chest.
Sen 23992 ‘Oh yes, yes, he pull his Kalashnikov out from under his pattu and point it at them.
107 pulao prev next

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 16084 I was about to make very loud noises in a plate of Leopold’s pulao.
Sen 16102 ‘Well, nobody told me anything about it,’ I complained, still thinking of the delicious pulao at Leopold’s.
Sen 21569 Those dishes included flavoured yoghurts, piquant goat’s or sheep’s milk cheeses, oven-baked cakes made with corn flour, dates, nuts, and wild honey, biscuits baked with richly churned goat’s milk butter and, of course, a variety of halal meats and vegetable pulao.
108 unselfconsciously prev next

Difficulty: 18.55
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 128 He stretched, yawned, and scratched unselfconsciously at his naked belly.
Sen 7368 He stood close to Karla, staring unselfconsciously.
Sen 13132 Within a few days, I walked that rolling, shambling dance as unselfconsciously as they did.
109 mandrax prev next

Difficulty: 18.34
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 6516 With my help, they bought four kilos of charras and two thousand Mandrax tablets.
Sen 13055 ‘Your mandrax tablets, sir,’ the guard said.
Sen 16500 They were muscle: hit men, sent by a gangster in Lagos to punish me for a major heroin and Mandrax tablet deal that had gone wrong.
110 whorls prev next
Definition  (whorl)
1. (Bot.) A circle of two or more leaves, flowers, or other organs, about the same part or joint of a stem. 2. (Zoöl.) A volution, or turn, of the spire of a univalve shell. 3. (Spinning) The fly of a spindle. "univalve": A shell consisting of one valve only; a mollusk whose shell is composed of a single piece, as the snails and conchs. Note: Most univalves are spiral and are the shells of gastropods, but many belong to cephalopods and pteropods. A large number of univalves belonging to the gastropods are conical, cup-shaped, or shieldlike, as the limpets. Having one valve; as, a univalve shell or pericarp. "volution": 1. A spiral turn or wreath. 2. (Zoöl.) A whorl of a spiral shell.

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 12529 And one day they came to take our fingerprints, pressing the black, traitorous loops and whorls onto a page that promised to tell a truth, a vile truth, and nothing but that truth.
Sen 26457 The skin, when it closed together, had fused in jagged whorls at the sides but not at all in the centre, where the laceration was too deep.
Sen 27310 Wood and fibreglass shavings covered the table and lay in chips and whorls, along with rinds of papier-måché, at his bare feet.
111 chapatti prev next

Difficulty: 18.05
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 12740 Breakfast consisted of a single, large chapatti.
Sen 12849 The evening meal, served at four-thirty with the addition of a single chapatti, was a repetition of that soup of the day.
Sen 13141 I was living on a palm-sized piece of chapatti bread and one saucer of watery soup every day.
112 gandu prev next

Difficulty: 17.98
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 25087 ‘Fuckin’ gandu,’ Sanjay growled, using the slang word for arsehole.
Sen 26134 ‘If it comes to that, I’ll kill the gandu for you, brother, and it will be my pleasure.
Sen 26252 Gandu!’ Sanjay shouted.
113 burkha prev next

Difficulty: 17.95
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 20620 Those longbeards were out of their minds at the way the Russians were changing the country—letting women work, and go to university, and get around in public without the full burkha covering.
Sen 27174 ‘A burkha.’
Sen 27190 The blue-grey burkha covered the standing bear from its head to the ground.
114 affability prev next
Definition
The quality of being affable; readiness to converse; courteousness in receiving others and in conversation; complaisant behavior. Affability is of a wonderful efficacy or power in procuring love. Elyot "efficacy": Power to produce effects; operation or energy of an agent or force; production of the effect intended; as, the efficacy of medicine in counteracting disease; the efficacy of prayer. "Of noxious efficacy." Milton. Syn. -- Virtue; force; energy; potency; efficiency. "complaisant": Desirous to please; courteous; obliging; compliant; as, a complaisant gentleman. There are to whom my satire seems too bold: Scarce to wise Peter complaisant enough. Pope. Syn. -- Obliging; courteous; affable; gracious; civil; polite; well-bred. See Obliging. -- Com"plai*sant`ly, adv. -- Com"plai*sant`ness, n. "affable": 1. Easy to be spoken to or addressed; receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner; courteous; sociable. An affable and courteous gentleman. Shak. His manners polite and affable. Macaulay. 2. Gracious; mild; benign. A serene and affable countenance. Tatler. Syn. -- Courteous; civil; complaisant; accessible; mild; benign; condescending. "courteousness": The quality of being courteous; politeness; courtesy.

Difficulty: 17.91
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 2846 He placed a hand on Karla’s shoulder, and turned to the rest of us with a brilliant smile of affability and charm.
Sen 10683 Then a door opened behind us, and Ghani’s round face dissolved into its usual mask of facetious affability.
Sen 20558 We shook hands, sizing one another up with equal candour and affability.
115 rivulets prev next
Definition  (rivulet)
A small stream or brook; a streamlet. By fountain or by shady rivulet He sought them. Milton. "streamlet": A small stream; a rivulet; a rill.

Difficulty: 17.85
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 8536 There was terrible anguish written in the rivulets of those tears and the torment that creased her face.
Sen 11487 Because so much rainwater had accumulated in puddles and rivulets throughout the slum, those too had provided breeding grounds for the bacteria.
Sen 12171 Sweat ran in rivulets to ravines of pleasure.
116 quizzical prev next
Definition
Relating to quizzing: given to quizzing; of the nature of a quiz; farcical; sportive. -- Quiz"zic*al*ly, adv. "sportive": Tending to, engaged in, or provocate of, sport; gay; froliscome; playful; merry. Is it I That drive thee from the sportive court Shak. -- Sport"ive*ly, adv. -- Sport"ive*ness, n. "farcical": Pertaining to farce; appropriated to farce; ludicrous; unnatural; unreal. They deny the characters to be farcical, because they are Gay. -- Far"ci*cal*ly, adv. -Far"ci*cal*ness, n. Of or pertaining to the disease called farcy. See Farcy, n.

Difficulty: 17.80
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 1861 She smiled, wrinkling her nose in a quizzical expression that might’ve been scornful or pleased.
Sen 11048 Didier and I inspected him with quizzical looks of our own.
Sen 17108 I raised one eyebrow unconsciously in a quizzical expression.
117 shambling prev next
Definition
Characterized by an awkward, irregular pace; as, a shambling trot; shambling legs. An awkward, irregular gait.

Difficulty: 17.74
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 102 My first impression was that some catastrophe had taken place, and that the slums were refugee camps for the shambling survivors.
Sen 13132 Within a few days, I walked that rolling, shambling dance as unselfconsciously as they did.
Sen 21096 After the first few shambling steps, his body twitched into a more efficient mode, and he began to lope, covering the thirty metres that separated us in long, crouching, feline strides.
118 singlets prev next
Definition  (singlet)
An unlined or undyed waistcoat; a single garment; -- opposed to doublet. [Prov. Eng.] "doublet": 1. Two of the same kind; a pair; a couple. 2. (Print.) A word or words unintentionally doubled or set up a second time. 3. A close-fitting garment for men, covering the body from the neck to the waist or a little below. It was worn in Western Europe from the 15th to the 17th century. 4. (Lapidary Work) A counterfeit gem, composed of two pieces of crystal, with a color them, and thus giving the appearance of a naturally colored gem. Also, a piece of paste or glass covered by a veneer of real stone. 5. (Opt.) An arrangement of two lenses for a microscope, designed to correct spherical aberration and chromatic dispersion, thus rendering the image of an object more clear and distinct. W. H. Wollaston. 6. pl. (See No. 1.) Two dice, each of which, when thrown, has the same number of spots on the face lying uppermost; as, to throw doublets. 7. pl. Etym: [Cf. Pr. doblier, dobler draughtboard.] A game somewhat like backgammon. Halliwell. 8. One of two or more words in the same language derived by different courses from the same original from; as, crypt and grot are doublets; also, guard and ward; yard and garden; abridge and abbreviate, etc.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 2170 They shouted instructions to the crowd, and in moments a wooden cart appeared, pushed by bare-chested men wearing only singlets and short lungis.
Sen 6907 After they’d scrubbed themselves clean with a hot bucket-bath, and dressed in new lungis and clean, white singlets, the two boys stood before an assembly of their families, friends, and neighbours.
Sen 14617 Three fishermen dressed in lungis and singlets approached us shyly.
119 suffused prev next
Definition  (suffuse)
To overspread, as with a fluid or tincture; to fill or cover, as with something fluid; as, eyes suffused with tears; cheeks suffused with blushes. When purple light shall next suffuse the skies. Pope. "tincture": 1. A tinge or shade of color; a tint; as, a tincture of red. 2. (Her.) One of the metals, colors, or furs used in armory. Note: There are two metals: gold, called or, and represented in engraving by a white surface covered with small dots; and silver, called argent, and represented by a plain white surface. The colors and their representations are as follows: red, called gules, or a shading of vertical lines; blue, called azure, or horizontal lines; black, called sable, or horizontal and vertical lines crossing; green, called vert, or diagonal lines from dexter chief corner; purple, called purpure, or diagonal lines from sinister chief corner. The furs are ermine, ermines, erminois, pean, vair, counter vair, potent, and counter potent. See Illustration in Appendix. 3. The finer and more volatile parts of a substance, separated by a solvent; an extract of a part of the substance of a body communicated to the solvent. 4. (Med.) A solution (commonly colored) of medicinal substance in alcohol, usually more or less diluted; spirit containing medicinal substances in solution. Note: According to the United States Pharmacopoeia, the term tincture (also called alcoholic tincture, and spirituous tincture) is reserved for the alcoholic solutions of nonvolatile substances, alcoholic solutions of volatile substances being called spirits. Ethereal tincture, a solution of medicinal substance in ether. 5. A slight taste superadded to any substance; as, a tincture of orange peel. 6. A slight quality added to anything; a tinge; as, a tincture of French manners. All manners take a tincture from our own. Pope. Every man had a slight tincture of soldiership, and scarcely any man more than a slight tincture. Macaulay. 1. To communicate a slight foreign color to; to tinge; to impregnate with some extraneous matter. A little black paint will tincture and spoil twenty gay colors. I. Watts. 2. To imbue the mind of; to communicate a portion of anything foreign to; to tinge. The stain of habitual sin may thoroughly tincture all our soul. Barrow. "overspread": To spread over; to cover; as, the deluge overspread the earth. Chaucer. Those nations of the North Which overspread the world. Drayton. To be spread or scattered over.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 3867 It was radiant, and suffused with an irrepressible good humour.
Sen 12179 The still and softly breathing silence that suffused and submerged us, afterward, was emptied of need, and want, and hunger, and pain, and everything else except the pure, ineffable exquisiteness of love.
Sen 21715 I remembered Anand’s face smiling at me through the metal grille of the visitor’s room at Arthur Road Prison: that gentle, handsome face, so serene, and softened with the peace that had suffused his heart.
120 gazals prev next

Difficulty: 17.64
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 4268 Hindi love songs jingled beside heart-breaking gazals.
Sen 5792 ‘Urdu is the language of gazals, and these are the best gazal singers in all Bombay,’ he replied.
Sen 20533 A large portable radio was playing romantic gazals in Urdu.
121 scandalised prev next

Difficulty: 17.62
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 18633 Their conversation came to me in laughing gasps and shrieks as they scandalised one another with gossip and sardonic commentaries on the peculiar habits of their neighbours’ husbands.
Sen 18705 Some of the thousands of neighbours and guests at the slum wedding were pleasantly scandalised, but most were delighted by the wickedness—Prabaker and Johnny first among them.
Sen 23299 Although they’d been scandalised by my admissions about being a gunaa, or sinner, and being imprisoned as a criminal, they’d been thrilled by the account, and asked many questions afterwards.
122 annotated prev next
Definition  (annotate)
To explain or criticize by notes; as, to annotate the works of Bacon. To make notes or comments; -- with on or upon.

Difficulty: 17.47
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 10277 Some of them were culled from various novels and other texts, each one attributed to the respective author and annotated with her own comments and criticisms.
Sen 10342 The pages were dog-eared, and heavily annotated in Karla’s own hand.
Sen 20870 And so it was that I rode during the day, acclimatising myself to the thinner air above five thousand feet, and at night read the diaries and journals of long-dead explorers, extinct editions of Greek classics, eccentrically annotated volumes of Shakespeare, and a dizzyingly passionate terza rima translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy.
123 unbidden prev next
Definition
1. Not bidden; not commanded. Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth Unbid; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. Milton. 2. Uninvited; as, unbidden guests. Shak. 3. Being without a prayer. [Obs.] Spenser. "bidden": of Bid. "unbid": 1. Not bidden; not commanded. Thorns also and thistles it shall bring thee forth Unbid; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. Milton. 2. Uninvited; as, unbidden guests. Shak. 3. Being without a prayer. [Obs.] Spenser.

Difficulty: 17.43
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 21916 He had a special talent for herding the unruly goats, and I’d often seen the temperamental creatures following him, unbidden, as he wandered around our camp.
Sen 22614 A clear thought came to me, unbidden, and surging in my mind like the spoken words of a poem.
Sen 23305 The words, like some kind of desperate prayer, came unbidden from my heart.
124 deferential prev next
Definition
Expressing deference; accustomed to defer.

Difficulty: 17.41
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 321 He spoke with deferential amiability to the two Canadians.
Sen 1452 He lifted his plump, jovial face above the heads of his friends and swept the room from right to left, acknowledging deferential nods and friendly smiles from a number of acquaintances at other tables.
Sen 3262 It seemed hypocritical for them to show such deferential concern over a nudge with a foot when, minutes before, they’d all but pushed one another out of the windows.
125 daubed prev next
Definition  (daub)
1. To smear with soft, adhesive matter, as pitch, slime, mud, etc.; to plaster; to bedaub; to besmear. She took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch. Ex. ii. 3. 2. To paint in a coarse or unskillful manner. If a picture is daubed with many bright and glaring colors, the vulgar admire it is an excellent piece. I. Watts. A lame, imperfect piece, rudely daubed over. Dryden. 3. To cover with a specious or deceitful exterior; to disguise; to conceal. So smooth he daubed his vice with show of virtue. Shak. 4. To flatter excessively or glossy. [R.] I can safely say, however, that, without any daubing at all, I am very sincerely your very affectionate, humble servant. Smollett. 5. To put on without taste; to deck gaudily. [R.] Let him be daubed with lace. Dryden. To smear; to play the flatterer. His conscience . . . will not daub nor flatter. South. 1. A viscous, sticky application; a spot smeared or dabed; a smear. 2. (Paint.) A picture coarsely executed. Did you . . . take a look at the grand picture . . . 'T is a melancholy daub, my lord. Sterne. "daubing": 1. The act of one who daubs; that which is daubed. 2. A rough coat of mortar put upon a wall to give it the appearance of stone; rough-cast. 3. In currying, a mixture of fish oil and tallow worked into leather; -- called also dubbing. Knight. "bedaub": To daub over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and dirty. Bedaub foul designs with a fair varnish. Barrow. "viscous": Adhesive or sticky, and having a ropy or glutinous consistency; viscid; glutinous; clammy; tenacious; as, a viscous juice. -- Vis"cous*ness, n. Note: There is no well-defined distinction in meaning between viscous and viscid. "besmear": To smear with any viscous, glutinous matter; to bedaub; to soil. Besmeared with precious balm. Spenser. "coarsely": In a coarse manner; roughly; rudely; inelegantly; uncivilly; meanly. "gaudily": In a gaudy manner. Guthrie. "unskillful": 1. Not skillful; inexperienced; awkward; bungling; as, an unskillful surgeon or mechanic; an unskillful logician. 2. Lacking discernment; injudicious; ignorant. Though it make the unskillful laugh, can not but make the judicious grieve. Shak. -- Un*skill"ful*ly, adv. -- Un*skill"ful*ness, n. "specious": 1. Presenting a pleasing appearance; pleasing in form or look; showy. Some [serpents] specious and beautiful to the eye. Bp. Richardson. The rest, far greater part, Will deem in outward rites and specious forms Religion satisfied. Milton. 2. Apparently right; superficially fair, just, or correct, but not so in reality; appearing well at first view; plausible; as, specious reasoning; a specious argument. Misled for a moment by the specious names of religion, liberty, and property. Macaulay. In consequence of their greater command of specious expression. J. Morley. Syn. -- Plausible; showy; ostensible; colorable; feasible. See Plausible. -- Spe"xious*ly, adv. -- Spe"cious*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.30
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 14862 Someone had daubed the name Sapna on a grubby wall nearby.
Sen 15823 The name Sapna was daubed on the walls with his own blood.
Sen 24595 The daubed cheeks were higher than the bones beneath them.
126 maza prev next

Difficulty: 17.30
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 2421 ‘Ah, ah, maza nao Lin ahey,’ I muttered, uncertainly.
Sen 2426 ‘Maza Desh New Zealand ahey.
Sen 3372 ‘Maza mitra ahey,’ Prabaker answered with contrived nonchalance, trying in vain to disguise his pride.
127 impish prev next
Definition
Having the qualities, or showing the characteristics, of an imp.

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 940 He glanced at me, his cheeks appled in the impish grin I was learning to recognise as the clever under-side of his broad and gentle smile.
Sen 3847 A wide gap between her front teeth gave an impish mischief to her smile, while the superb hook of her beaked nose endowed her serious expressions with an imposing authority.
Sen 11049 He responded with an impish smile, but I noticed that his eyes darted away quickly to his left.
128 handcarts prev next
Definition  (handcart)
A cart drawn or pushed by hand.

Difficulty: 17.00
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 539 Men with bullock wagons and handcarts wound their way through heavy traffic to deliver watermelons and sacks of rice, soft drinks and racks of clothes, cigarettes and blocks of ice.
Sen 8064 Hundreds of wooden handcarts, longer and taller and wider than a car when fully laden, trundled along between buses and trucks, pushed by barefoot porters, six men to each cart.
Sen 14578 Nearer to the docks we threaded our way through crowds of men pushing handcarts, and women carrying baskets on their heads, all bearing crushed ice and a burden of fish.
129 endorphin prev next

Difficulty: 17.00
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 20092 Chief among them is the endorphin group.
Sen 20094 Anxiety and stress and pain bring on the endorphin response as a natural coping mechanism.
Sen 20096 When we stop taking opiates, there’s a lag of between five and fourteen days before the body begins a new endorphin production cycle.
130 equanimity prev next
Definition
Evenness of mind; that calm temper or firmness of mind which is not easily elated or depressed; patience; calmness; composure; as, to bear misfortunes with equanimity. "firmness": The state or quality of being firm. Syn. -- Firmness, Constancy. Firmness belongs to the will, and constancy to the affections and principles; the former prevents us from yielding, and the latter from fluctuating. Without firmness a man has no character; "without constancy," says Addison, "there is neither love, friendship, nor virtue in the world." "evenness": The state of being ven, level, or disturbed; smoothness; horizontal position; uniformity; impartiality; calmness; equanimity; appropriate place or level; as, evenness of surface, of a fluid at rest, of motion, of dealings, of temper, of condition. It had need be something extraordinary, that must warrant an ordinary person to rise higher than his own evenness. Jer. Taylor.

Difficulty: 16.99
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 5899 ‘Perhaps five,’ he replied, accepting the change of topic with tolerant equanimity.
Sen 6488 I knew that a part of whatever equanimity I’d managed to display, perhaps most of it, had really been his.
Sen 28601 Beings of such lambent compassion, such sublime equanimity, that in my broken, exiled heart I pledged to love them, as every man and woman who saw them did.
131 sardonic prev next
Definition
Forced; unnatural; insincere; hence, derisive, mocking, malignant, or bitterly sarcastic; -- applied only to a laugh, smile, or some facial semblance of gayety. Where strained, sardonic smiles are glozing still, And grief is forced to laugh against her will. Sir H. Wotton. The scornful, ferocious, sardonic grin of a bloody ruffian. Burke. Sardonic grin or laugh, an old medical term for a spasmodic affection of the muscles of the face, giving it an appearance of laughter. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a kind of linen made at Colchis. "derisive": Expressing, serving for, or characterized by, derision. "Derisive taunts." Pope. -- De*ri"sive*ly, adv. -- De*ri"sive*ness, n. "spasmodic": 1. (Med.) Of or pertaining to spasm; consisting in spasm; occuring in, or characterized by, spasms; as, a spasmodic asthma. 2. Soon relaxed or exhausted; convulsive; intermittent; as, spasmodic zeal or industry. Spasmodic croup (Med.), an affection of childhood characterized by a stoppage of brathing developed suddenly and without fever, and produced by spasmodic contraction of the vocal cords. It is sometimes fatal. Called also laryngismus stridulus, and childcrowing. -- Spasmodic stricture, a stricture caused by muscular spasm without structural change. See Organic stricture, under Organic. A medicine for spasm. "gayety": 1. The state of being gay; merriment; mirth; acts or entertainments prompted by, or inspiring, merry delight; -- used often in the plural; as, the gayeties of the season. 2. Finery; show; as, the gayety of dress. Syn. -- Liveliness; mirth; animation; vivacity; glee; blithesomeness; sprightliness; jollity. See Liveliness. "scornful": 1. Full of scorn or contempt; contemptuous; disdainful. Scornful of winter's frost and summer's sun. Prior. Dart not scornful glances from those eyes. Shak. 2. Treated with scorn; exciting scorn. [Obs.] The scornful mark of every open eye. Shak. Syn. -- Contemptuous; disdainful; contumelious; reproachful; insolent. -- Scorn"ful*ly, adv. -- Scorn"ful*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.99
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 7764 She raised one eyebrow in the familiar, sardonic half-smile.
Sen 18633 Their conversation came to me in laughing gasps and shrieks as they scandalised one another with gossip and sardonic commentaries on the peculiar habits of their neighbours’ husbands.
Sen 26868 Their excitement, enthusiasm, ambition, and limitless hope for the future so delighted everyone in the Leopold’s crowd that Kavita and Didier felt obliged to respond, occasionally, with sardonic sniping.
132 exasperation prev next
Definition
1. The act of exasperating or the state of being exasperated; irritation; keen or bitter anger. Extorted from him by the exasperation of his spirits. South. 2. Increase of violence or malignity; aggravation; exacerbation. "Exasperation of the fits." Sir H. Wotton. "exacerbation": 1. The act rendering more violent or bitter; the state of being exacerbated or intensified in violence or malignity; as, exacerbation of passion. 2. (Med.) A periodical increase of violence in a disease, as in remittent or continious fever; an increased energy of diseased and painful action. "malignity": 1. The state or quality of being malignant; disposition to do evil; virulent enmity; malignancy; malice; spite. 2. Virulence; deadly quality. His physicians discerned an invincible malignity in his disease. Hayward. 3. Extreme evilness of nature or influence; perniciousness; heinousness; as, the malignity of fraud. [R.] Syn. -- See Malice.

Difficulty: 16.95
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 3276 However, when I surrendered my seat, for four hours of the journey, to an elderly man with a shock of white hair and spectacles as thick as the lenses on an army scout’s binoculars, Prabaker was provoked to an indignant exasperation.
Sen 4068 ‘Are you all crazy?’ I shouted, in exasperation.
Sen 13102 The official examined his gold wristwatch for a moment, and then sighed his exasperation loudly.
133 clambered prev next
Definition  (clamber)
To climb with difficulty, or with hands and feet; -- also used figuratively. The narrow street that clambered toward the mill. Tennyson. The act of clambering. T. Moore. To ascend by climbing with difficulty. Clambering the walls to eye him. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.93
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 2121 Suddenly, he clambered over the seat into the front of the car and wrestled the passenger door open.
Sen 5307 I clambered over the bluestone parapet, and took hold of the cord.
Sen 16253 I jogged along beside the train, and clambered up the outside of the carriage to the roof.
134 splayed prev next
Definition  (splay)
1. To display; to spread. [Obs.] "Our ensigns splayed." Gascoigne. 2. To dislocate, as a shoulder bone. 3. To spay; to castrate. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] 4. To turn on one side; to render oblique; to slope or slant, as the side of a door, window, etc. Oxf. Gloss. Displayed; spread out; turned outward; hence, flat; ungainly; as, splay shoulders. Sonwthing splay, something blunt-edged, unhandy, and infelicitous. M. Arnold. A slope or bevel, especially of the sides of a door or window, by which the opening is made larged at one face of the wall than at the other, or larger at each of the faces than it is between them. "bevel": 1. Any angle other than a right angle; the angle which one surface makes with another when they are not at right angles; the slant or inclination of such surface; as, to give a bevel to the edge of a table or a stone slab; the bevel of a piece of timber. 2. An instrument consisting of two rules or arms, jointed together at one end, and opening to any angle, for adjusting the surfaces of work to the same or a given inclination; -- called also a bevel square. Gwilt. 1. Having the slant of a bevel; slanting. 2. Hence: Morally distorted; not upright. [Poetic] I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel. Shak. A bevel angle, any angle other than one of 90º. -- Bevel wheel, a cogwheel whose working face is oblique to the axis. Knight. To cut to a bevel angle; to slope the edge or surface of. To deviate or incline from an angle of 90 Their houses are very ill built, the walls bevel. Swift. "dislocate": To displace; to put out of its proper place. Especially, of a bone: To remove from its normal connections with a neighboring bone; to put out of joint; to move from its socket; to disjoint; as, to dislocate your bones. Shak. After some time the strata on all sides of the globe were dislocated. Woodward. And thus the archbishop's see, dislocated or out of joint for a time, was by the hands of his holiness set right again. Fuller. Dislocated. Montgomery. "oblique": 1. Not erect or perpendicular; neither parallel to, nor at right angles from, the base; slanting; inclined. It has a direction oblique to that of the former motion. Cheyne. 2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister. The love we bear our friends... Hath in it certain oblique ends. Drayton. This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power. De Quincey. Then would be closed the restless, oblique eye. That looks for evil, like a treacherous spy. Wordworth. 3. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral. His natural affection in a direct line was strong, in an oblique but weak. Baker. Oblique angle, Oblique ascension, etc. See under Angle,Ascension, etc. -- Oblique arch (Arch.), an arch whose jambs are not at right angles with the face, and whose intrados is in consequence askew. -- Oblique bridge, a skew bridge. See under Bridge, n. -- Oblique case (Gram.), any case except the nominative. See Case, n. -- Oblique circle (Projection), a circle whose plane is oblique to the axis of the primitive plane. -- Oblique fire (Mil.), a fire the direction of which is not perpendicular to the line fired at. -- Oblique flank (Fort.), that part of the curtain whence the fire of the opposite bastion may be discovered. Wilhelm. -- Oblique leaf. (Bot.) (a) A leaf twisted or inclined from the normal position. (b) A leaf having one half different from the other. -- Oblique line (Geom.), a line that, meeting or tending to meet another, makes oblique angles with it. -- Oblique motion (Mus.), a kind of motion or progression in which one part ascends or descends, while the other prolongs or repeats the same tone, as in the accompanying example. -- Oblique muscle (Anat.), a muscle acting in a direction oblique to the mesial plane of the body, or to the associated muscles; -- applied especially to two muscles of the eyeball. -- Oblique narration. See Oblique speech. -- Oblique planes (Dialing), planes which decline from the zenith, or incline toward the horizon. -- Oblique sailing (Naut.), the movement of a ship when she sails upon some rhumb between the four cardinal points, making an oblique angle with the meridian. -- Oblique speech (Rhet.), speech which is quoted indirectly, or in a different person from that employed by the original speaker. -- Oblique sphere (Astron. & Geog.), the celestial or terrestrial sphere when its axis is oblique to the horizon of the place; or as it appears to an observer at any point on the earth except the poles and the equator. -- Oblique step (Mil.), a step in marching, by which the soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25º. It is not now practiced. Wilhelm. -- Oblique system of coördinates (Anal. Geom.), a system in which the coördinate axes are oblique to each other. An oblique line. 1. To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction. Projecting his person towards it in a line which obliqued from the bottom of his spine. Sir. W. Scott. 2. (Mil.) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; -- formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left. "ungainly": 1. Not gainly; not expert or dexterous; clumsy; awkward; uncouth; as, an ungainly strut in walking. His ungainly figure and eccentric manners. Macaulay. 2. Unsuitable; unprofitable. [Obs.] Hammond. In an ungainly manner. "infelicitous": Not felicitous; unhappy; unfortunate; not fortunate or appropriate in application; not well said, expressed, or done; as, an infelicitous condition; an infelicitous remark; an infelicitous description; infelicitous words. "spay": To remove or extirpate the ovaries of, as a sow or a bitch; to castrate (a female animal). The male of the red deer in his third year; a spade. "unhandy": Clumsy; awkward; as, an Unhandy man.

Difficulty: 16.91
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 2206 His arms were splayed out at right angles to his body and held fast.
Sen 9552 He sat with his broad back against a wall, and his lower legs splayed out in front of him.
Sen 12764 His legs were splayed out at an excruciatingly unnatural angle.
135 hessian prev next
Definition
Of or relating to Hesse, in Germany, or to the Hessians. Hessian boots, or Hessians, boot of a kind worn in England, in the early part of the nineteenth century, tasseled in front. Thackeray. -- Hessian cloth, or Hessians, a coarse hempen cloth for sacking. -- Hessian crucible. See under Crucible. -- Hessian fly (Zoöl.), a small dipterous fly or midge (Cecidomyia destructor). Its larvæ live between the base of the lower leaves and the stalk of wheat, and are very destructive to young wheat; -- so called from the erroneous idea that it was brought into America by the Hessian troops, during the Revolution. 1. A native or inhabitant of Hesse. 2. A mercenary or venal person. [U. S.] Note: This use is a relic of the patriot hatred of the Hessian mercenaries who served with the British troops in the Revolutionary War. 3. pl. See Hessian boots and cloth, under Hessian, a. "dipterous": 1. (Zoöl.) Having two wings, as certain insects; belonging to the order Diptera. 2. (Bot.) Having two wings; two-winged. "destructor": A destroyer. [R.] Fire, the destructive and the artificial death of things. Boyle. "venal": Of or pertaining to veins; venous; as, venal blood. [R.] Capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration; made matter of trade or barter; held for sale; salable; mercenary; purchasable; hireling; as, venal services. " Paid court to venal beauties." Macaulay. The venal cry and prepared vote of a passive senate. Burke. Syn. -- Mercenary; hireling; vendible. -- Venal, Mercenary. One is mercenary who is either actually a hireling (as, mercenary soldiers, a mercenary judge, etc.), or is governed by a sordid love of gain; hence, we speak of mercenary motives, a mercenary marriage, etc. Venal goes further, and supposes either an actual purchase, or a readiness to be purchased, which places a person or thing wholly in the power of the purchaser; as, a venal press. Brissot played ingeniously on the latter word in his celebrated saying, " My pen is venal that it may not be mercenary," meaning that he wrote books, and sold them to the publishers, in order to avoid the necessity of being the hireling of any political party. Thus needy wits a vile revenue made, And verse became a mercenary trade. Dryden. This verse be thine, my friend, nor thou refuse This, from no venal or ungrateful muse. Pope. "hempen": 1. Made of hemp; as, a hempen cord. 2. Like hemp. "Beat into a hempen state." Cook. "erroneous": 1. Wandering; straying; deviating from the right course; -- hence, irregular; unnatural. [Obs.] "Erroneous circulation." Arbuthnot. Stopped much of the erroneous light, which otherwise would have disturbed the vision. Sir I. Newman. 2. Misleading; misled; mistaking. [Obs.] An erroneous conscience commands us to do what we ought to omit. Jer. Taylor. 3. Containing error; not conformed to truth or justice; incorrect; false; mistaken; as, an erroneous doctrine; erroneous opinion, observation, deduction, view, etc. -- Er*ro"ne*ous*ly, adv. -- Er*ro"ne*ous*ness, n. "inhabitant": 1. One who dwells or resides permanently in a place, as distinguished from a transient lodger or visitor; as, an inhabitant of a house, a town, a city, county, or state. "Frail inhabitants of earth." Cowper. In this place, they report that they saw inhabitants which were very fair and fat people. Abp. Abbot. 2. (Law) One who has a legal settlement in a town, city, or parish; a permanent resident. "cecidomyia": A genus of small dipterous files, including several very injurious species, as the Hessian fly. See Hessian fly.

Difficulty: 16.90
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 7618 Straw and hessian was strewn about to serve as bedding for the goats, chickens, cats, and dogs that foraged amid discarded food scraps and rubbish in the pen.
Sen 8047 One said she possessed a fortune in precious gems that she kept in a hessian sack, another talked with authority about her addiction to various drugs, and a third whispered of satanic rites and cannibalism.
Sen 18814 Rat-catchers patrolled the corridors, dragging conspicuous hessian sacks that bulged with writhing, fat animals.
136 hurtled prev next
Definition  (hurtle)
1. To meet with violence or shock; to clash; to jostle. Together hurtled both their steeds. Fairfax. 2. To move rapidly; to wheel or rush suddenly or with violence; to whirl round rapidly; to skirmish. Now hurtling round, advantage for to take. Spenser. Down the hurtling cataract of the ages. R. L. Stevenson. 3. To make a threatening sound, like the clash of arms; to make a sound as of confused clashing or confusion; to resound. The noise of battle hurtled in the air. Shak. The earthquake sound Hurtling 'death the solid ground. Mrs. Browning. 1. To move with violence or impetuosity; to whirl; to brandish. [Obs.] His harmful club he gan to hurtle high. Spenser. 2. To push; to jostle; to hurl. And he hurtleth with his horse adown. Chaucer. "brandish": 1. To move or wave, as a weapon; to raise and move in various directions; to shake or flourish. The quivering lance which he brandished bright. Drake. 2. To play with; to flourish; as, to brandish syllogisms. A flourish, as with a weapon, whip, etc. "Brandishes of the fan." Tailer. "cataract": 1. A great fall of water over a precipice; a large waterfall. 2. (Surg.) An opacity of the crystalline lens, or of its capsule, which prevents the passage of the rays of light and impairs or destroys the sight. 3. (Mach.) A kind of hydraulic brake for regulating the action of pumping engines and other machines; -- sometimes called dashpot. "resound": 1. To sound loudly; as, his voice resounded far. 2. To be filled with sound; to ring; as, the woods resound with song. 3. To be echoed; to be sent back, as sound. "Common fame . . . resounds back to them again." South. 4. To be mentioned much and loudly. Milton. 5. To echo or reverberate; to be resonant; as, the earth resounded with his praise. 1. To throw back, or return, the sound of; to echo; to reverberate. Albion's cliffs resound the rurPope. 2. To praise or celebrate with the voice, or the sound of instruments; to extol with sounds; to spread the fame of. The man for wisdom's various arts renowned, Long exercised in woes, O muse, resound. Pope. Syn. -- To echo; reëcho; reverberate; sound. Return of sound; echo. Beaumont. "adown": From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [Archaic] "Thrice did she sink adown." Spenser. Down. [Archaic & Poetic] Her hair adown her shoulders loosely lay displayed. Prior. "jostle": To run against and shake; to push out of the way; to elbow; to hustle; to disturb by crowding; to crowd against. "Bullies jostled him." Macaulay. Systems of movement, physical, intellectual, and moral, which are perpetually jostling each other. I. Taylor. To push; to crowd; to hustle. None jostle with him for the wall. Lamb. A conflict by collisions; a crowding or bumping together; interference. The jostle of South African nationalities and civilization. The Nation. "impetuosity": 1. The condition or quality of being impetuous; fury; violence. 2. Vehemence, or furiousnes of temper. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.85
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 2066 From time to time he opened his door and leaned out over the road to spit paan juice, taking his eyes off the traffic ahead for long seconds as we hurtled along in the rattling cab.
Sen 18920 ‘The hotel!’ the passenger repeated, and the yellow Exocet hurtled back along the winding roads once more.
Sen 19158 We hurtled through the ponderously slow traffic, riding on luck and instinct just as Abdullah might’ve done.
137 dishevelled prev next
Definition  (dishevel)
1. To suffer (the hair) to hang loosely or disorderly; to spread or throw (the hair) in disorder; -- used chiefly in the passive participle. With garments rent and hair disheveled, Wringing her hands and making piteous moan. Spenser. 2. To spread loosely or disorderly. Like the fair flower disheveled in the wind. Cowper. To be spread in disorder or hang negligently, as the hair. [R.] Sir T. Herbert. "wringing": a. & n. from Wring, v. Wringing machine, a wringer. See Wringer, 2. "disheveled": 1. Having in loose disorder; disarranged; as, disheveled hair. 2. Having the hair in loose disorder. The dancing maidens are disheveled Mænads. J. A. Symonds. "participle": 1. (Gram.) A part of speech partaking of the nature both verb and adjective; a form of a verb, or verbal adjective, modifying a noun, but taking the adjuncts of the verb from which it is derived. In the sentences: a letter is written; being asleep he did not hear; exhausted by toil he will sleep soundly, -- written, being, and exhaustedare participles. By a participle, [I understand] a verb in an adjectival aspect. Earle. Note: Present participles, called also imperfect, or incomplete, participles, end in -ing. Past participles, called also perfect, or complete, participles, for the most part end in -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n. A participle when used merely as an attribute of a noun, without reference to time, is called an adjective, or a participial adjective; as, a written constitution; a rolling stone; the exhausted army. The verbal noun in -ing has the form of the present participle. See Verbal noun, under Verbal, a. 2. Anything that partakes of the nature of different things. [Obs.] The participles or confines between plants and living creatures. Bacon. "negligently": In a negligent manner. "piteous": 1. Pious; devout. [Obs.] The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation. Wyclif. 2. Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate; tender. "[She] piteous of his case." Pope. She was so charitable and so pitous. Chaucer. 3. Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable; lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case. Spenser. The most piteous tale of Lear. Shak. 4. Paltry; mean; pitiful. "Piteous amends." Milton. Syn. -- Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful; sad; wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful; compassionate. -- Pit"e*ous*ly, adv. -- Pit"e*ous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.85
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 6700 His hair was dishevelled, and blood stained his face.
Sen 11018 True to the general rule of slum life that the more money one made, the more poverty-stricken one had to look, Kumar’s appearance was more dishevelled and ragged than the meanest of his customers.
Sen 12009 She was distraught and dishevelled.
138 brasserie prev next

Difficulty: 16.85
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 18934 Its piano bar, for example, was a small masterpiece of light and cleverly private spaces, and its brasserie vied determinedly for the title of the best restaurant in Bombay.
Sen 18935 Walking into the dark, richly textured brasserie from the brilliant day, I paused and blinked until my eyes found Lisa and her group.
Sen 19151 I held open the door of the brasserie for Lisa, and looked back at the table.
139 bristling prev next
Definition  (bristle)
1. A short, stiff, coarse hair, as on the back of swine. 2. (Bot.) A stiff, sharp, roundish hair. Gray. 1. To erect the bristles of; to cause to stand up, as the bristles of an angry hog; -- sometimes with up. Now for the bare-picked bone of majesty Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest. Shak. Boy, bristle thy courage up. Shak. 2. To fix a bristle to; as, to bristle a thread. 1. To rise or stand erect, like bristles. His hair did bristle upon his head. Sir W. Scott. 2. To appear as if covered with bristles; to have standing, thick and erect, like bristles. The hill of La Haye Sainte bristling with ten thousand bayonets. Thackeray. Ports bristling with thousands of masts. Macaulay. 3. To show deflance or indignation. To bristle up, to show anger or deflance. "roundish": Somewhat round; as, a roundish seed; a roundish figure. -- Round"ish*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.76
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 2058 The taxi driver—a burly, dark-skinned man with a bristling moustache—seemed to be outraged at my impertinence in saving our lives.
Sen 9802 The first of them consisted of his eyebrows, which began a little above and in the centre of his eyes, and descended with bristling unruliness along the slope of his frown to the level of the eyes themselves.
Sen 10024 We stared across the kind of bristling hostility that’s sometimes as good as, or better than, mutual attraction.
140 muezzin prev next
Definition
A Mohammedan crier of the hour of prayer. [Written also mouezzin, mueddin, and muwazzin.] "mohammedan": Of or pertaining to Mohammed, or the religion and institutions founded by Mohammed. [Written also Mahometan, Mahomedan, Muhammadan, etc.] A follower of Mohammed, the founder of Islamism; one who professes Mohammedanism or Islamism. "mouezzin": See Muezzin.

Difficulty: 16.75
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 9902 Just as we passed the main entrance to the mosque, the muezzin began to recite the call to prayer from the minarets above our heads.
Sen 9910 He pointed at the entrance to the mosque, and then to the tower above it, where loudspeakers amplified the voice of the muezzin.
Sen 20661 It was some time since the evening prayer—I’d heard the call of the muezzin while we were driving in the cab—but there were still many men absorbed in private prayer throughout the mosque.
141 incongruous prev next
Definition
Not congruous; reciprocally disagreeing; not capable of harmonizing or readily assimilating; inharmonious; inappropriate; unsuitable; not fitting; inconsistent; improper; as, an incongruous remark; incongruous behavior, action, dress, etc. "Incongruous mixtures of opinions." I. Taylor. "Made up of incongruous parts." Macaulay. Incongruous denotes that kind of absence of harmony or suitableness of which the taste and experience of men takes cognizance. C. J. Smith. Incongruous numbers (Arith.), two numbers, which, with respect to a third, are such that their difference can not be divided by it without a remainder, the two numbers being said to be incongruous with respect to the third; as, twenty-five are incongruous with respect to four. Syn. -- Inconsistent; unsuitable; inharmonious; disagreeing; absurd; inappropriate; unfit; improper. See Inconsistent. -- In*con"gru*ous*ly, adv. -- In*con"gru*ous*ness, n. "inharmonious": 1. Not harmonious; unmusical; discordant; dissonant. Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh. Cowper. 2. Conflicting; jarring; not in harmony. "reciprocally": 1. In a reciprocal manner; so that each affects the other, and is equally affected by it; interchangeably; mutually. These two particles to reciprocally affect each other with the same force. Bentley. 2. (Math.) In the manner of reciprocals. Reciprocally proportional (Arith. & Alg.), proportional, as two variable quantities, so that the one shall have a constant ratio to the reciprocal of the other. "cognizance": 1. Apprehension by the understanding; perception; observation. Within the cognizance and lying under the control of their divine Governor. Bp. Hurd 2. Recollection; recognition. Who, soon as on that knight his eye did glance, Eftsoones of him had perfect cognizance. Spenser. 3. (Law) (a) Jurisdiction, or the power given by law to hear and decide controversies. (b) The hearing a matter judicially. (c) An acknowledgment of a fine of lands and tenements or confession of a thing done. [Eng.] (d) A form of defense in the action of replevin, by which the defendant insists that the goods were lawfully taken, as a distress, by defendant, acting as servant for another. [Eng.] Cowell. Mozley & W. 4. The distinguishing mark worn by an armed knight, usually upon the helmet, and by his retainers and followers: Hence, in general, a badge worn by a retainer or dependent, to indicate the person or party to which he belonged; a token by which a thing may be known. Wearing the liveries and cognizance of their master. Prescott. This pale and angry rose, As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate. Shak. "congruous": Suitable or concordant; accordant; fit; harmonious; correspondent; consistent. Not congruous to the nature of epic poetry. Blair. It is no ways congruous that God should be always frightening men into an acknowledgment of the truth. Atterbury.

Difficulty: 16.71
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 7563 To my western eyes, those fluid, feminine figures in soft red, blue, green, and yellow silk were incongruous in the physical turmoil of the construction site.
Sen 21661 There was always something eerily incongruous in the wise lectures—sometimes they were like sermons—of the mafia don Abdel Khader Khan.
Sen 25328 Lettie had once said that she found it strange and incongruous to hear me describe criminals, killers, and mafiosi as men of honour.
142 nonchalance prev next
Definition
Indifference; carelessness; coolness.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 179 ‘Safer?’ I asked, assuming a nonchalance I didn’t feel.
Sen 3372 ‘Maza mitra ahey,’ Prabaker answered with contrived nonchalance, trying in vain to disguise his pride.
Sen 23016 Then it hovered with arrogant, fearless nonchalance near the edge of the plateau that had been our haven.
143 overhand prev next
Definition
The upper hand; advantage; superiority; mastery. He had gotten thereby a great overhand on me. Sir T. More. 1. (Sewing) Over and over; -- applied to a style of sewing, or to a seam, in which two edges, usually selvedges, are sewed together by passing each stitch over both. 2. (Baseball, Cricket, etc.) Done (as pitching or bowling) with the hand higher than the elbow, or the arm above, or higher than, the shoulder. Overhand knot. See Illustration of Knot. In an overhand manner or style.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 4290 My left hook and overhand right elbow, the best hard punches in any street fight, were lucky, and both made tough contact.
Sen 12947 I followed him, pushing him on to the back foot and hitting him with a flurry of jabs and overhand rights.
Sen 19826 When I judged the moment to be right, I swung round at him with an overhand right.
144 minarets prev next
Definition  (minaret)
A slender, lofty tower attached to a mosque and surrounded by one or more projecting balconies, from which the summon to prayer is cried by the muezzin. "muezzin": A Mohammedan crier of the hour of prayer. [Written also mouezzin, mueddin, and muwazzin.]

Difficulty: 16.66
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 5657 In the moonlight, the teardrop arches and rounded contours glowed white and became the sails of that mystic ship, and the minarets were so many towering spars.
Sen 9902 Just as we passed the main entrance to the mosque, the muezzin began to recite the call to prayer from the minarets above our heads.
Sen 12593 I was walking into the worst of the city, one of her cruellest and most iniquitous defiles, but some instinct flooded my mind with a loveliness I’d found in her—that path, across the sea, to the white minarets of the saint’s tomb.
145 admonished prev next
Definition  (admonish)
1. To warn or notify of a fault; to reprove gently or kindly, but seriously; to exhort. "Admonish him as a brother." 2 Thess. iii. 15. 2. To counsel against wrong practices; to cation or advise; to warn against danger or an offense; -- followed by of, against, or a subordinate clause. Admonishing one another in psalms and hymns. Col. iii. 16. I warned thee, I admonished thee, foretold The danger, and the lurking enemy. Milton. 3. To instruct or direct; to inform; to notify. Moses was admonished of God, when he was about to make the tabernacle. Heb. viii. 5. "exhort": To incite by words or advice; to animate or urge by arguments, as to a good deed or laudable conduct; to address exhortation to; to urge strongly; hence, to advise, warn, or caution. Examples gross as earth exhort me. Shak. Let me exhort you to take care of yourself. J. D. Forbes. To deliver exhortation; to use words or arguments to incite to good deeds. With many other words did he testify and exhort. Acts ii. 40. Exhortation. [Obs.] Pope. "reprove": 1. To convince. [Obs.] When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. John xvi. 9. 2. To disprove; to refute. [Obs.] Reprove my allegation, if you can. Shak. 3. To chide to the face as blameworthy; to accuse as guilty; to censure. What if thy son Prove disobedient, and, reproved, retort, "Wherefore didst thou beget me" Milton. 4. To express disapprobation of; as, to reprove faults. He neither reproved the ordinance of John, neither plainly condemned the fastings of the other men. Udall. Syn. -- To reprehend; chide; rebuke; scold; blame censure. -- Reprove, Rebuke, Reprimand. These words all signufy the expression of disapprobation. To reprove implies greater calmness and self-possession. To rebuke implies a more excited and personal feeling. A reproof may be administered long after the offience is committed, and is usually intended for the reformation of the offender; a rebuke is commonly given at the moment of the wrong, and is administered by way of punishment and condemnation. A reprimand proceeds from a person invested with authority, and is a formal and offiscial act. A child is reproved for his faults, and rebuked for his impudence. A military officer is reprimanded for neglect or violation of duty. "cation": An electro-positive substance, which in electro-decomposition is evolved at the cathode; -- opposed to anion. Faraday. "tabernacle": 1. A slightly built or temporary habitation; especially, a tent. Dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob. Heb. xi. 9. Orange trees planted in the ground, and secured in winter with a wooden tabernacle and stoves. Evelyn. 2. (Jewish Antiq.) A portable structure of wooden framework covered with curtains, which was carried through the wilderness in the Israelitish exodus, as a place of sacrifice and worship. Ex. xxvi. 3. Hence, the Jewish temple; sometimes, any other place for worship. Acts xv. 16. 4. Figuratively: The human body, as the temporary abode of the soul. Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle. 2 Pet. i. 14. 5. Any small cell, or like place, in which some holy or precious things was deposited or kept. Specifically: -- (a) The ornamental receptacle for the pyx, or for the consecrated elements, whether a part of a building or movable. (b) A niche for the image of a saint, or for any sacred painting or sculpture. (c) Hence, a work of art of sacred subject, having a partially architectural character, as a solid frame resting on a bracket, or the like. (d) A tryptich for sacred imagery. (e) A seat or stall in a choir, with its canopy. 6. (Naut.) A boxlike step for a mast with the after side open, so that the mast can be lowered to pass under bridges, etc. Feast of Tabernacles (Jewish Antiq.), one of the three principal festivals of the Jews, lasting seven days, during which the people dwelt in booths formed of the boughs of trees, in commemoration of the habitation of their ancestors in similar dwellings during their pilgrimage in the wilderness. -- Tabernacle work, rich canopy work like that over the head of niches, used over seats or stalls, or over sepulchral monuments. Oxf. Gloss. To dwell or reside for a time; to be temporary housed. He assumed our nature, and tabernacled among us in the flesh. Dr. J. Scott.

Difficulty: 16.58
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 11396 He warned her that her sister’s life was in her hands, and he admonished her for her cowardice.
Sen 16751 ‘You know,’ I admonished him, ‘Karla says that depression only happens to people who don’t know how to be sad.’
Sen 28606 ‘Shantaram!’ he admonished me when I started speaking to him in Hindi.
146 trudging prev next
Definition  (trudge)
To walk or march with labor; to jog along; to move wearily. And trudged to Rome upon my naked feet. Dryden. "wearily": In a weary manner.

Difficulty: 16.54
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 21472 More than a few of the tough, hardened fighters, trudging between the walking horses, stooped to gather a little clutch of flowers so that they might simply feel the beauty of them in their dry and calloused hands.
Sen 21730 Stupidly, I didn’t associate it with gunfire at first, and I kept trudging forward, leading my horse by the reins.
Sen 22157 Trudging through the light snow I dug out new latrines, and carefully covered them over and concealed them again when they were full.
147 trundling prev next
Definition  (trundle)
1. A round body; a little wheel. 2. A lind of low-wheeled cart; a truck. 3. A motion as of something moving upon little wheels or rollers; a rolling motion. 4. (Mach.) (a) A lantern wheel. See under Lantern. (b) One of the bars of a lantern wheel. 1. To roll (a thing) on little wheels; as, to trundle a bed or a gun carriage. 2. To cause to roll or revolve; to roll along; as, to trundle a hoop or a ball. R. A. Proctor. 1. To go or move on small wheels; as, a bed trundles under another. 2. To roll, or go by revolving, as a hoop. "lind": The linden. See Linden. Chaucer.

Difficulty: 16.50
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 316 The pack was heavy, forcing him to thrust his neck out, lean over, and launch himself forward into a trundling gait.
Sen 6293 Even the rolling stock were ghost trains, trundling from shunting stop to shunting stop without staff or passengers.
Sen 27307 With Kano trundling along on all fours beside us, we made our way through the darkening lanes to the large double-hut that was old Rakeshbaba’s workshop.
148 trundled prev next
Definition  (trundle)
1. A round body; a little wheel. 2. A lind of low-wheeled cart; a truck. 3. A motion as of something moving upon little wheels or rollers; a rolling motion. 4. (Mach.) (a) A lantern wheel. See under Lantern. (b) One of the bars of a lantern wheel. 1. To roll (a thing) on little wheels; as, to trundle a bed or a gun carriage. 2. To cause to roll or revolve; to roll along; as, to trundle a hoop or a ball. R. A. Proctor. 1. To go or move on small wheels; as, a bed trundles under another. 2. To roll, or go by revolving, as a hoop. "lind": The linden. See Linden. Chaucer.

Difficulty: 16.50
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 2178 As the semi-conscious woman was trundled away on the humble cart, the man hurled himself at the door of the taxi, wrenching it open.
Sen 8064 Hundreds of wooden handcarts, longer and taller and wider than a car when fully laden, trundled along between buses and trucks, pushed by barefoot porters, six men to each cart.
Sen 27197 The blue-grey, burkha-clad figure trundled forward, all the while emitting a low, grumbling moan.
149 naan prev next

Difficulty: 16.48
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 11992 We ate chicken byriani, malai kofta, vegetable korma, rice, curried vegetables, deep fried pieces of pumpkin, potato, onion, and cauliflower, hot buttered naan bread, dhal, papadams, and green mango chutney.
Sen 21462 Many were the days we passed with no more than one glass of water to drink, and one small piece of naan bread to eat.
Sen 22160 When it was my turn to milk the goats, I churned the milk into butter and helped to cook naan bread.
150 embossed prev next
Definition
1. Formed or covered with bosses or raised figures. 2. Having a part projecting like the boss of a shield. 3. Swollen; protuberant. [Obs.] "An embossed carbuncle." Shak. "carbuncle": 1. (Min.) A beautiful gem of a deep red color (with a mixture of scarlet) called by the Greeks anthrax; found in the East Indies. When held up to the sun, it loses its deep tinge, and becomes of the color of burning coal. The name belongs for the most part to ruby sapphire, though it has been also given to red spinel and garnet. 2. (Med.) A very painful acute local inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue, esp. of the trunk or back of the neck, characterized by brawny hardness of the affected parts, sloughing of the skin and deeper tissues, and marked constitutional depression. It differs from a boil in size, tendency to spread, and the absence of a central core, and is frequently fatal. It is also called anthrax. 3. (Her.) A charge or bearing supposed to represent the precious stone. It has eight scepters or staves radiating from a common center. Called also escarbuncle. "protuberant": Prominent, or excessively prominent; bulging beyond the surrounding or adjacent surface; swelling; as, a protuberant joint; a protuberant eye. -- Pro*tu"ber*ant*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.45
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 8173 The cards were made of pearl-white, textured, linen paper, and the words were embossed in liquid black italic.
Sen 21454 And for the clan leaders there was a small hoard of gold tablets, each weighing one tola, or about ten grams, and embossed with the Afghan laurel.
Sen 25664 Her lips, embossed with secret thoughts, were swollen to the truth she was trying to tell me.
151 tatami prev next

Difficulty: 16.45
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 3322 A range of products, from pottery to clothing to handwoven tatami mats, was arriving at the station for dispatch to the cities.
Sen 3700 We passed through a low arch, and he led me to an area beside the house that was enclosed on three sides by hanging tatami mats.
Sen 3722 He was darting about, peering through the tatami matting at various places.
152 unkempt prev next
Definition
1. Not combed; disheveled; as, an urchin with unkempt hair. 2. Fig.; Not smoothed; unpolished; rough. My rhymes be rugged and unkempt. Spenser. "disheveled": 1. Having in loose disorder; disarranged; as, disheveled hair. 2. Having the hair in loose disorder. The dancing maidens are disheveled Mænads. J. A. Symonds.

Difficulty: 16.32
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 11408 His hair was unkempt, and he pushed it back frequently with the long fingers of his right hand.
Sen 15023 They were unshaven, unwashed, and unkempt in appearance.
Sen 20634 Beyond the window the streets grew less ordered, and the buildings grew more shabby and unkempt.
153 genial prev next
Definition
Same as Genian. 1. Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. "The genial bed." Milton. Creator Venus, genial power of love. Dryden. 2. Contributing to, and sympathizing with, the enjoyment of life; sympathetically cheerful and cheering; jovial and inspiring joy or happiness; exciting pleasure and sympathy; enlivening; kindly; as, she was of a cheerful and genial disposition. So much I feel my genial spirits droop. Milton. 3. Belonging to one's genius or natural character; native; natural; inborn. [Obs.] Natural incapacity and genial indisposition. Sir T. Browne. 4. Denoting or marked with genius [R.] Men of genius have often attached the highest value to their less genial works. Hare. Genial gods (Pagan Mythol.), the powers supposed to preside over marriage and generation. "genian": Of or pertaining to the chin; mental; as, the genian prominence. "incapacity": 1. Want of capacity; lack of physical or intellectual power; inability. 2. (Law) Want of legal ability or competency to do, give, transmit, or receive something; inability; disqualification; as, the inacapacity of minors to make binding contracts, etc. Syn. -- Inability; incapability; incompetency; unfitness; disqualification; disability. "inborn": Born in or with; implanted by nature; innate; as, inborn passions. Cowper. Syn. -- Innate; inherent; natural. "propagation": 1. The act of propagating; continuance or multiplication of the kind by generation or successive production; as, the propagation of animals or plants. There is not in nature any spontaneous generation, but all come by propagation. Ray. 2. The spreading abroad, or extension, of anything; diffusion; dissemination; as, the propagation of sound; the propagation of the gospel. Bacon. "generative": Having the power of generating, propagating, originating, or producing. "That generative particle." Bentley. "droop": 1. To hang bending downward; to sink or hang down, as an animal, plant, etc., from physical inability or exhaustion, want of nourishment, or the like. "The purple flowers droop." "Above her drooped a lamp." Tennyson. I saw him ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish. Swift. 2. To grow weak or faint with disappointment, grief, or like causes; to be dispirited or depressed; to languish; as, her spirits drooped. I'll animate the soldier's drooping courage. Addison. 3. To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline. "Then day drooped." Tennyson. To let droop or sink. [R.] M. Arnold. Like to a withered vine That droops his sapless branches to the ground. Shak. A drooping; as, a droop of the eye. "procreative": Having the power to beget; generative. Sir M. Hale. "indisposition": 1. The state of being indisposed; disinclination; as, the indisposition of two substances to combine. A general indisposition towards believing. Atterbury. 2. A slight disorder or illness. Rather as an indisposition in health than as any set sickness. Hayward. "sympathetically": In a sympathetic manner.

Difficulty: 16.27
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 16038 It was a genial, sanguine meeting, and I rose to leave with the strength and confidence that those honest, simple, decent men always inspired in me.
Sen 25356 Andrew had been genial and talkative, but he’d moved only reluctantly from the company of his young gangster friends, and we hadn’t become close.
Sen 25465 They were the new blood, the new mafia dons, the new lords of the city: Sanjay, the efficient killer with the movie-star looks; Andrew, the genial Goan who dreamed of taking his seat on the mafia council; Amir, the grizzled veteran with the story-teller’s gift; Faisal, the cold-hearted enforcer who only asked one question—Finger, arm, leg, or neck?—when he was given an assignment; Farid, known as the Fixer, who solved problems with fire and fear, and who’d raised six much younger brothers and sisters, alone, when his parents died in a cholera-infested slum; and Salman, the quiet one, the humble one, the natural leader, who controlled the lives of hundreds in the little empire that he’d inherited and held by force.
154 reverie prev next
Definition
1. A loose or irregular train of thought occurring in musing or mediation; deep musing; daydream. "Rapt in nameless reveries." Tennyson. When ideas float in our mind without any reflection or regard of the understanding, it is that which the French call revery, our language has scarce a name for it. Locke. 2. An extravagant concient of the fancy; a vision. [R.] There are infinite reveries and numberless extravagancies pass through both [wise and foolish minds]. Addison. "rapt": imp. & p. p. of Rap, to snatch away. 1. Snatched away; hurried away or along. Waters rapt with whirling away. Spenser. 2. Transported with love, admiration, delight, etc.; enraptured. "The rapt musician." Longfellow. 3. Wholly absorbed or engrossed, as in work or meditation. "Rapt in secret studies." Shak. 1. An ecstasy; a trance. [Obs.] Bp. Morton. 2. Rapidity. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne. 1. To transport or ravish. [Obs.] Drayton. 2. To carry away by force. [Obs.] Daniel. "numberless": Innumerable; countless. "revery": 1. A loose or irregular train of thought occurring in musing or mediation; deep musing; daydream. "Rapt in nameless reveries." Tennyson. When ideas float in our mind without any reflection or regard of the understanding, it is that which the French call revery, our language has scarce a name for it. Locke. 2. An extravagant concient of the fancy; a vision. [R.] There are infinite reveries and numberless extravagancies pass through both [wise and foolish minds]. Addison. Same as Reverie.

Difficulty: 16.27
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 10601 A few moments later, he shook himself from his reverie and looked at me, his eyes gleaming in a gentle, affectionate smile.
Sen 15262 She drifted in that reverie for a few moments and then snapped her head back to stare at me.
Sen 24283 He dropped his gaze again, and lapsed into a reverie so rich in thought and feeling that his head twitched and his lower lip trembled in the turbulence of it.
155 gelding prev next
Definition
A castrated animal; -- usually applied to a horse, but formerly used also of the human male. They went down both into the water, Philip and the gelding, and Philip baptized him. Wyclif (Acts viii. 38). from Geld, v. t. "geld": Money; tribute; compensation; ransom.[Obs.] Note: This word occurs in old law books in composition, as in danegeld, or danegelt, a tax imposed by the Danes; weregeld, compensation for the life of a man, etc. 1. To castrate; to emasculate. 2. To deprive of anything essential. Bereft and gelded of his patrimony. Shak. 3. To deprive of anything exceptionable; as, to geld a book, or a story; to expurgate. [Obs.] Dryden.

Difficulty: 16.26
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 20175 The white gelding and grey mare were large, docile animals.
Sen 20184 The thickset Afghan cupped his hands to boost me onto the gelding’s back, nodding his head for me to climb up, and winking encouragingly.
Sen 20187 The gelding galloped away down the beach without me.
156 pani prev next

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 964 Ha means yes, and nahin means no, and pani means water, and khanna means foods, and —’
Sen 6747 ‘Pani nahin,’ Qasim said.
Sen 8502 I took a glass and drank some of the nimbu pani.
157 demurred prev next
Definition  (murr)
A catarrh. [Obs.] Gascoigne. "catarrh": An inflammatory affection of any mucous membrane, in which there are congestion, swelling, and an altertion in the quantity and quality of mucus secreted; as catarrh of the stomach; catarrh of the bladder. Note: In America, the term catarrh is applied especially to a chronic inflammation of, and hypersecretion fron, the membranes of the nose or air passages; in England, to an acute influenza, resulting a cold, and attended with cough, thirst, lassitude, and watery eyes; also, to the cold itself.

Difficulty: 16.22
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 14737 ‘I’m … happy to stay with the metre right now,’ I demurred, laughing again in spite of myself.
Sen 17027 ‘Fuck lunch, let’s get stoned first, yaar,’ Kalpana demurred.
Sen 28014 ‘I don’t know, man,’ I demurred, grinning in surprise at his earnestness.
158 plodding prev next
Definition
Progressing in a slow, toilsome manner; characterized by laborious diligence; as, a plodding peddler; a plodding student; a man of plodding habits. --Plod"ding*ly, adv. "toilsome": Attended with toil, or fatigue and pain; laborious; wearisome; as, toilsome work. What can be toilsome in these pleasant walks Milton. -- Toil"some*ly, adv. -- Toil"some*ness, n. "laborious": 1. Requiring labor, perseverance, or sacrifices; toilsome; tiresome. Dost thou love watchings, abstinence, or toil, Laborious virtues all Learn these from Cato. Addison. 2. Devoted to labor; diligent; industrious; as, a laborious mechanic. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.20
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 229 The impression was of a plodding, indefatigable, and distant past that had crashed intact, through barriers of time, into its own future.
Sen 3604 The people smiled, laughed, wiggled their heads in return, and ran ahead, shouting to their neighbours about the entertaining spectacle that was plodding along the track towards them.
Sen 21981 I called on it to stop, but it ignored me, plodding onward along the narrow track.
159 frothy prev next
Definition
1. Full of foam or froth, or consisting of froth or light bubbles; spumous; foamy. 2. Not firm or solid; soft; unstable. Bacon. 3. Of the nature of froth; light; empty; unsubstantial; as, a frothy speaker or harangue. Tillotson. "harangue": A speech addressed to a large public assembly; a popular oration; a loud address a multitude; in a bad sense, a noisy or pompous speech; declamation; ranting. Gray-headed men and grave, with warriors mixed, Assemble, and harangues are heard. Milton. Syn. -- Harangue, Speech, Oration. Speech is generic; an oration is an elaborate and rhetorical speech; an harangue is a vehement appeal to the passions, or a noisy, disputatious address. A general makes an harangue to his troops on the eve of a battle; a demagogue harangues the populace on the subject of their wrongs. To make an harangue; to declaim. To address by an harangue. "unsubstantial": Lacking in matter or substance; visionary; chimerical. "spumous": Consisting of, containing, or covered with, froth, scum, or foam; frothy; foamy. The spumous and florid state of the blood. Arbuthnot. The spumy waves proclaim the watery war. Dryden. "foamy": Covered with foam; frothy; spumy. Behold how high the foamy billows ride! Dryden.

Difficulty: 16.20
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 11524 Her lips were like the soft ridges of dunes in the desert at sunset; like the crests of waves meeting in the frothy rush to shore; like the folded wings of courting birds.
Sen 23374 The New York accent, with its Arabic swell, rolled over me like a warm, frothy wave, and I almost reached out to hug him.
Sen 26038 Here and there along the boulevard, frothy plumes, like gasps of effort, slapped up, over, and onto the white footpaths.
160 rotis prev next

Difficulty: 16.20
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 9639 The smells of rotis cooking on kerosene stoves, and chai boiling in fragrant pots joined the people-smells of coconut hair oil, sandalwood soap, and camphor-soaked clothing.
Sen 9661 We drank sweet tea spiced with clove, and ate waffle-style rotis filled with ghee and sugar, and rolled into tubes.
Sen 11570 We were exhausted, but hunger drove us to chew through the hot rotis and vegetables.
161 discernible prev next
Definition
Capable of being discerned by the eye or the understanding; as, a star is discernible by the eye; the identity of difference of ideas is discernible by the understanding. The effect of the privations and sufferings . . . was discernible to the last in his temper and deportment. Macaulay. Syn. -- Perceptible; distinguishable; apparent; visible; evident; manifest. "distinguishable": 1. Capable of being distinguished; separable; divisible; discernible; capable of recognition; as, a tree at a distance is distinguishable from a shrub. A simple idea being in itself uncompounded . . . is not distinguishable into different ideas. Locke. 2. Worthy of note or special regard. Swift. "deportment": Manner of deporting or demeaning one's self; manner of acting; conduct; carrige; especially, manner of acting with respect to the courtesies and duties of life; behavior; demeanor; bearing. The gravity of his deportment carried him safe through many difficulties. Swift. "perceptible": Capable of being perceived; cognizable; discernible; perceivable. With a perceptible blast of the air. Bacon. -- Per*cep"ti*ble*ness, n. -- Per*cep"ti*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 3103 The cherubs of that architectural sky were pigeons, so far overhead in their flutter from roost to roost that they were only faintly discernible; distant, celestial beings of flight, and white light.
Sen 11641 Aunt Penny was jealous of the girl’s beauty and her combative, intimidating intelligence—qualities not discernible in her own three children.
Sen 25407 I know now that assassin grief can hide for years and then strike suddenly, on the happiest day, without discernible reason or exegesis.
162 scrupulous prev next
Definition
1. Full ofscrupules; inclined to scruple; nicely doubtful; hesitating to determine or to act, from a fear of offending or of doing wrong. Abusing their liberty, to the offense of their weak brethren which were scrupulous. Hooker. 2. Careful; cautious; exact; nice; as, scrupulous abstinence from labor; scrupulous performance of duties. 3. Given to making objections; captious. [Obs.] Equality of two domestic powers Breed scrupulous faction. Shak. 4. Liable to be doubted; doubtful; nice. [Obs.] The justice of that cause ought to be evident; not obscrure, not scrupulous. Bacon. Syn. -- Cautious; careful; conscientious; hesitating. -- Scru"pu*lous*ly, adv. -- Scru"pu*lous*ness, n. "scruple": 1. A weight of twenty grains; the third part of a dram. 2. Hence, a very small quantity; a particle. I will not bate thee a scruple. Shak. 3. Hesitation as to action from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; unwillingness, doubt, or hesitation proceeding from motives of conscience. He was made miserable by the conflict between his tastes and his scruples. Macaulay. To make scruple, to hesitate from conscientious motives; to scruple. Locke. To be reluctant or to hesitate, as regards an action, on account of considerations of conscience or expedience. We are often over-precise, scrupling to say or do those things which lawfully we may. Fuller. Men scruple at the lawfulness of a set form of divine worship. South. 1. To regard with suspicion; to hesitate at; to question. Others long before them . . . scrupled more the books of hereties than of gentiles. Milton. 2. To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple. [R.] Letters which did still scruple many of them. E. Symmons. "captious": 1. Art to catch at faults; disposed to find fault or to cavil; eager to object; difficult to please. A captius and suspicious. Stillingfleet. I am sensible I have not disposed my materials to adbide the test of a captious controversy. Bwike. 2. Fitted to harass, perplex, or insnare; insidious; troublesome. Captious restraints on navigation. Bancroft. Syn. -- Caviling, carping, fault-finding; censorious; hypercritical; peevish, fretful; perverse; troublesome. -- Captious, caviling, Carping. A captious person is one who has a fault-finding habit or manner, or is disposed to catch at faults, errors, etc., with quarrelsome intent; a caviling person is disposed to raise objections on frivolous grounds; carping implies that one is given to ill-natured, persistent, or unreasonable fault-finding, or picking up of the words or actions of others. Caviling is the carping of argument, carping the caviling of ill temper. C. J. Smith.

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 981 In fact, as he told me much later, Prabaker had just then decided to like me, and for him that meant he was bound to a scrupulous and literal honesty in everything he said or did.
Sen 4448 It was the kind of sadness that’s a companion, all too often, to scrupulous and uncompromising honesty.
Sen 20408 Nazeer, scrupulous as ever in his conformity with Khaderbhai’s instructions, never uttered a single word on the first leg from Bombay to Karachi.
163 rehydration prev next
Definition  (hydration)
The act of becoming, or state of being, a hydrate. Water of hydration (Chem.), water chemically combined with some substance to form a hydrate; -- distinguished from water of crystallization. "crystallization": 1. (Chem. & Min.) The act or process by which a substance in solidifying assumes the form and sructure of a crystal, or becomes crystallized. 2. The body formed by crystallizing; as, silver on precipitation forms arborescent crystallizations. Note: The systems of crystallization are the several classes to which the forms are mathematically referable. They are most simply described according to the relative lengths and inclinations of certain assumed lines called axes; but the real distinction is the degree of symmetry characterizing them. 1. The Isometric, or Monometric, system has the axes all equal, as in the cube, octahedron, etc. 2. The Tetragonal, or Dimetric, system has a varying vertical axis, while the lateral are equal, as in the right square prism. 3. The Orthorhombic, or Trimetric, system has the three axes unequal, as in the rectangular and rhombic prism. In this system, the lateral axes are called, respectively, macrodiagonal and brachydiagonal. -- The preceding are erect forms, the axes intersecting at right angles. The following are oblique. 4. The Monoclinic system, having one of the intersections oblique, as in the oblique rhombic prism. In this system, the lateral axes are called respectively, clinodiagonal and orthodiagonal. 5. The Triclinic system, having all the three intersections oblique, as in the oblique rhomboidal prism. There is also: 6. The Hexagonal system (one division of which is called Rhombohedral), in which there are three equal lateral axes, and a vertical axis of variable length, as in the hexagonal prism and the rhombohedron. Note: The Diclinic system, sometimes recognized, with two oblique intersections, is only a variety of the Triclinic.

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 11466 ORT, or Oral Rehydration Therapy, had been devised by Jon Rohde, a scientist who worked with local and UNICEF doctors in Bangladesh during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Sen 11467 The oral rehydration solution that he developed contained distilled water, sugar, common salt, and other minerals in carefully mixed proportions.
Sen 11493 My task was to supervise the use of the oral rehydration solution and to prepare batches of a homemade mixture as required.
164 retorted prev next
Definition  (retort)
1. To bend or curve back; as, a retorted line. With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated. Southey. 2. To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect. As when his virtues, shining upon others, Heat them and they retort that heat again To the first giver. Shak. 3. To return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility; as, to retort the charge of vanity. And with retorted scorn his back he turned. Milton. To return an argument or a charge; to make a severe reply. Pope. 1. The return of, or reply to, an argument, charge, censure, incivility, taunt, or witticism; a quick and witty or severe response. This is called the retort courteous. Shak. 2. Etym: [F. retorte (cf. Sp. retorta), fr. L. retortus, p. p. of retorquere. So named from its bent shape. See Retort, v. t.] (Chem. & the Arts) A vessel in which substances are subjected to distillation or decomposition by heat. It is made of different forms and materials for different uses, as a bulb of glass with a curved beak to enter a receiver for general chemical operations, or a cylinder or semicylinder of cast iron for the manufacture of gas in gas works. Tubulated retort (Chem.), a retort having a tubulure for the introduction or removal of the substances which are to be acted upon. Syn. -- Repartee; answer. -- Retort, Repartee. A retort is a short and pointed reply, turning back on an assailant the arguments, censure, or derision he had thrown out. A repartee is usually a good-natured return to some witty or sportive remark. "distillation": 1. The act of falling in drops, or the act of pouring out in drops. 2. That which falls in drops. [R.] Johnson 3. (Chem.) The separation of the volatile parts of a substance from the more fixed; specifically, the operation of driving off gas or vapor from volatile liquids or solids, by heat in a retort or still, and the condensation of the products as far as possible by a cool receiver, alembic, or condenser; rectification; vaporization; condensation; as, the distillation of illuminating gas and coal, of alcohol from sour mash, or of boric acid in steam. Note: The evaporation of water, its condensation into clouds, and its precipitation as rain, dew, frost, snow, or hail, is an illustration of natural distillation. 4. The substance extracted by distilling. Shak. Destructive distillation (Chem.), the distillation, especially of complex solid substances, so that the ultimate constituents are separated or evolved in new compounds, -- usually requiring a high degree of heat; as, the destructive distillation of soft coal or of wood. -- Dry distillation, the distillation of substances by themselves, or without the addition of water or of other volatile solvent; as, the dry distillation of citric acid. -- Fractional distillation. (Chem.) See under Fractional. "tubulated": Made in the form of a small tube; provided with a tube, or elongated opening. Tubulated bottle or retort (Chem.), a bottle or retort having a stoppered opening for the introduction or removal of materials. "repartee": A smart, ready, and witty reply. Cupid was as bad as he; Hear but the youngster's repartee. Prior. Syn. -- Retort; reply. See Retort. To make smart and witty replies. [R.] Prior. "tubulure": A short tubular opening at the top of a retort, or at the top or side of a bottle; a tubulation. "incivility": 1. The quality or state of being uncivil; want of courtesy; rudeness of manner; impoliteness. Shak. Tillotson. 2. Any act of rudeness or ill breeding. Uncomely jests, loud talking and jeering, which, in civil account, are called indecencies and incivilities. Jer. Taylor. 3. Want of civilization; a state of rudeness or barbarism. [R.] Sir W. Raleigh. Syn. -- Impoliteness; uncourteousness; unmannerliness; disrespect; rudeness; discourtesy. "sportive": Tending to, engaged in, or provocate of, sport; gay; froliscome; playful; merry. Is it I That drive thee from the sportive court Shak. -- Sport"ive*ly, adv. -- Sport"ive*ness, n. "witticism": A witty saying; a sentence or phrase which is affectedly witty; an attempt at wit; a conceit. Milton. He is full of conceptions, points of epigram, and witticisms; all which are below the dignity of heroic verse. Addison. "reverberate": 1. Reverberant. [Obs.] "The reverberate hills." Shak. 2. Driven back, as sound; reflected. [Obs.] Drayton. 1. To return or send back; to repel or drive back; to echo, as sound; to reflect, as light, as light or heat. Who, like an arch, reverberates The voice again. Shak. 2. To send or force back; to repel from side to side; as, flame is reverberated in a furnace. 3. Hence, to fuse by reverberated heat. [Obs.] "Reverberated into glass." Sir T. Browne. 1. To resound; to echo. 2. To be driven back; to be reflected or repelled, as rays of light; to be echoed, as sound. "derision": 1. The act of deriding, or the state of being derided; mockery; scornful or contemptuous treatment which holds one up to ridicule. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. Ps. ii. 4. Saderision called. Milton. 2. An object of derision or scorn; a laughing-stock. I was a derision to all my people. Lam. iii. 14. Syn. -- Scorn; mockery; contempt; insult; ridicule. "etym": See Etymon. H. F. Talbot.

Difficulty: 16.16
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 11182 ‘That’s one of Karla’s lines,’ I retorted.
Sen 18987 ‘See my eviction from their point of view,’ Mehta retorted, with such vehemence that several heads turned toward him from other tables.
Sen 20600 ‘What socialists?’ he retorted, squinting more furiously.
165 lathe prev next
Definition
Formerly, a part or division of a county among the Anglo- Saxons. At present it consists of four or five hundreds, and is confined to the county of Kent. [Written also lath.] Brande & C. 1. A granary; a barn. [Obs.] Chaucer. 2. (Mach.) A machine for turning, that is, for shaping articles of wood, metal, or other material, by causing them to revolve while acted upon by a cutting tool. 3. The movable swing frame of a loom, carrying the reed for separating the warp threads and beating up the weft; -- called also lay and batten. Blanchard lathe, a lathe for turning irregular forms after a given pattern, as lasts, gunstocks, and the like. -- Drill lathe, or Speed lathe, a small lathe which, from its high speed, is adapted for drilling; a hand lathe. -- Engine lathe, a turning lathe in which the cutting tool has an automatic feed; -- used chiefly for turning and boring metals, cutting screws, etc. -- Foot lathe, a lathe which is driven by a treadle worked by the foot. -- Geometric lathe. See under Geometric -- Hand lathe, a lathe operated by hand; a power turning lathe without an automatic feed for the tool. -- Slide lathe, an engine lathe. -- Throw lathe, a small lathe worked by one hand, while the cutting tool is held in the other. "treadle": 1. The part of a foot lathe, or other machine, which is pressed or moved by the foot. 2. (Biol.) The chalaza of a bird's egg; the tread. "lath": A thin, narrow strip of wood, nailed to the rafters, studs, or floor beams of a building, for the purpose of supporting the tiles, plastering, etc. A corrugated metallic strip or plate is sometimes used. Lath brick, a long, slender brick, used in making the floor on which malt is placed in the drying kiln. Lath nail a slender nail for fastening laths. To cover or line with laths. "movable": 1. Capable of being moved, lifted, carried, drawn, turned, or conveyed, or in any way made to change place or posture; susceptible of motion; not fixed or stationary; as, a movable steam engine. 2. Changing from one time to another; as, movable feasts, i. e., church festivals, the date of which varies from year to year. Movable letter (Heb. Gram.), a letter that is pronounced, as opposed to one that is quiescent. 1. An article of wares or goods; a commodity; a piece of property not fixed, or not a part of real estate; generally, in the plural, goods; wares; furniture. Furnished with the most rich and princely movables. Evelyn. 2. (Rom. Law) Property not attached to the soil. Note: The word is not convertible with personal property, since rents and similar incidents of the soil which are personal property by our law are immovables by the Roman law. Wharton. "granary": A storehouse or repository for grain, esp. after it is thrashed or husked; a cornbouse; also (Fig.), a region fertile in grain. The exhaustless granary of a world. Thomson. "weft": imp. & p. p. of Wave. A thing waved, waived, or cast away; a waif. [Obs.] "A forlorn weft." Spenser. 1. The woof of cloth; the threads that cross the warp from selvage to selvage; the thread carried by the shuttle in weaving. 2. A web; a thing woven.

Difficulty: 16.13
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 22114 There was a small capstan lathe, which we’d bolted to a homemade table.
Sen 22115 The lathe ran on a diesel engine.
Sen 22158 I turned new parts on the turret lathe, and melted the helical metal shavings to make more parts.
166 dreadlocks prev next

Difficulty: 16.10
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 7003 Both men had long hair, worn in dreadlocks as thick as two fingers, and tipped with coils of silver wire.
Sen 15440 His hair was matted in dreadlocks that reached to his waist.
Sen 27232 Their long dreadlocks and decorated plaits were concealed beneath turbans, and they wore plain white shirts and trousers.
167 squall prev next
Definition
A sudden violent gust of wind often attended with rain or snow. The gray skirts of a lifting squall. Tennyson. Black squall, a squall attended with dark, heavy clouds. -- Thick squall, a black squall accompanied by rain, hail, sleet, or snow. Totten. -- White squall, a squall which comes unexpectedly, without being marked in its approach by the clouds. Totten. To cry out; to scream or cry violently, as a woman frightened, or a child in anger or distress; as, the infant squalled. A loud scream; a harsh cry. There oft are heard the notes of infant woe, -The short, thick sob, loud scream, and shriller squall. Pope.

Difficulty: 16.06
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 2070 ‘For Christ’s sake, tell him to stop!’ I shouted as the cab accelerated into a squall of traffic, lurching in the swerve left and right.
Sen 10016 I realised that she was early drunk, in that squall of coherence before slurred speech and clumsiness and collapse.
Sen 15353 So much had happened since the last time I’d seen her, the first time we’d made love, that a fevered squall of emotion stung my eyes.
168 ghee prev next
Definition
Butter clarified by boiling, and thus converted into a kind of oil. [India] Malcom.

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 3982 The hot, pancake-like bread was filled with a dab of ghee, or purified butter, and a large spoonful of sugar.
Sen 9661 We drank sweet tea spiced with clove, and ate waffle-style rotis filled with ghee and sugar, and rolled into tubes.
Sen 23104 The flour had burned to soot with the rice and ghee and sugar.
169 coveralls prev next

Difficulty: 16.03
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 5103 I had an extension cord with me, wrapped around my body under my coveralls.
Sen 5243 I took the chisel from the side-pocket of my coveralls.
Sen 5268 Telling him to hold still, I used the chisel to tear a flap in the pocket at the back of his coveralls.
170 sprawled prev next
Definition  (sprawl)
1. To spread and stretch the body or limbs carelessly in a horizontal position; to lie with the limbs stretched out ungracefully. 2. To spread irregularly, as vines, plants, or tress; to spread ungracefully, as chirography. 3. To move, when lying down, with awkward extension and motions of the limbs; to scramble in creeping. The birds were not fledged; but upon sprawling and struggling to get clear of the flame, down they tumbled. L'Estrange. "chirography": 1. The art of writing or engrossing; handwriting; as, skilled in chirography. 2. The art of telling fortunes by examining the hand. "tress": 1. A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet. Her yellow hair was braided in a tress. Chaucer. Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare. Pope. 2. Fig.: A knot or festoon, as of flowers. Keats. "irregularly": In an irregular manner.

Difficulty: 16.00
Appears 3 times in book:
Sen 9122 He sprawled in his place, where others sat.
Sen 10227 Hurriedly soaking a towel in cold water and grabbing up a large dish from the bathroom, I returned to find her sprawled out awkwardly, her hands on her belly.
Sen 12013 On the bed there was a young man sprawled with one leg over the foot of the bed.
171 excruciation prev next
Definition
The act of inflicting agonizing pain, or the state of being thus afflicted; that which excruciates; torture. Feltham.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4565 The faces of the Babas were radiant with their excruciation.
Sen 24081 Every movement of my body, or turn of the head, stabbed into that sweating excruciation.
172 jezail prev next

Difficulty: 20.69
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 21493 The latter was emphasised with spectacular effect by the antique, long-barrelled jezail that he held upright, balanced on his hip.
Sen 24017 They were Afghans, veteran fighters; hard men, with eyes that stared at me as if they were looking along the decorated barrel of a jezail rifle.
173 hazaar prev next

Difficulty: 20.69
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 24151 ‘Do-do-teen hazaar,’ I answered, using the slang phrase two-two-three thousand, which always means three.
Sen 24152 ‘Teen hazaar!’ he huffed, more from habit than any real concern.
174 sisterfucking prev next

Difficulty: 20.28
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3452 There are plenty of arseholes and bastards around who will teach him the wrong sisterfucking words.
Sen 26748 Have you got a goat’s brain inside your sisterfucking head?’
175 castellated prev next
Definition
1. Inclosed within a building; as, a fountain or cistern castellated. [Obs.] Johnson. 2. Furnished with turrets and battlements, like a castle; built in the style of a castle.

Difficulty: 20.28
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 5271 Wriggling like worms in the gutter of the trough, we moved forward to the castellated front wall of the prison.
Sen 18829 I sat beneath huge, fire-breathing dragons and ate Chinese broccoli with snow peas, garlic spinach, fried bean curd, and mushrooms in black bean sauce by the light of paper lanterns, while the windows gave a view of castellated battlements, gothic arches, and rosestudded topiary.
176 dumm prev next

Difficulty: 20.28
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 5522 In three minutes the chillum was prepared, and offered to Khaderbhai for the first dumm, or puff.
Sen 14626 Khader received the honour of lighting the pipe, and I took the second dumm.
177 bhajee prev next

Difficulty: 19.99
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4956 An hour later, she forced her husband and two other young men to drag me from the injured people to eat a meal of roti bread, rice, and bhajee.
Sen 7623 A team of women scooped out servings of saffron rice, alu palak, kheema, bhajee, and other foods.
178 suleimani prev next

Difficulty: 19.99
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 10546 Later, while we drank hot and very sweet Suleimani chai in my hut, Abdullah explained that he’d been waiting for me in the hut, and heard the dogs.
Sen 16927 The servant brought sweet, black suleimani chai, in long glasses, and a variety of irresistible sweets on a silver tray.
179 grumpily prev next
Definition
In a surly manner; sullenly. [Colloq.]

Difficulty: 19.43
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 10158 ‘They exiled him,’ she corrected grumpily.
Sen 24794 Didier had landed on me, and I heard him moaning grumpily.
180 moneychanger prev next

Difficulty: 19.43
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 18894 ‘We’ve got a moneychanger, yaar.
Sen 18910 He’s a licensed moneychanger.
181 yatra prev next

Difficulty: 19.30
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2740 ‘But you still gave her buckets of grief when she wore it to the jazz yatra, na?’
Sen 24166 ‘He went on a journey, a yatra, and I don’t know when we’ll see him.’
182 kholi prev next

Difficulty: 19.30
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 11932 I explained my plan to Shantu on the way to the kholi settlement, adjacent to our slum.
Sen 11986 That face remained with me all the way back to the kholi settlement, but when we unloaded the boat, and Shantu agreed to join Vinod and me for dinner, I let the image of Rajan’s malice melt into my memory.
183 morcha prev next

Difficulty: 19.30
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 14108 ‘Riot nahin, morcha hain.’ It’s not a riot, it’s a demonstration.
Sen 14338 I saw a morcha, on my way up here.’
184 indeterminable prev next
Definition
Not determinable; impossible to be determined; not to be definitely known, ascertained, defined, or limited. -- In`de*ter"mi*na*bly, adv. An indeterminable thing or quantity. Sir T. Browne. "determinable": Capable of being determined, definitely ascertained, decided upon, or brought to a conclusion. Not wholly determinable from the grammatical use of the words. South.

Difficulty: 19.18
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 649 She turned and waved to him, then held out her hand to shake mine with a grip that was firm, but emotionally indeterminable.
Sen 19388 Thoughts drift like ocean weeds and vanish in the distant, grey somnolency, unperceived and indeterminable.
185 foetid prev next

Difficulty: 19.18
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 12368 Those foolish enough to enter were beaten and stripped naked by the fifty or sixty men who crushed into that black and foetid room.
Sen 12444 Make or break: I made my way in that world, right there and then, or I broke down, and let myself be forced into the foetid swamp at the end of the corridor.
186 roistering prev next
Definition  (roister)
To bluster; to swagger; to bully; to be bold, noisy, vaunting, or turbulent. I have a roisting challenge sent amongst The dull and factious nobles of the Greeks. Shak. See Roisterer. "roisterer": A blustering, turbulent fellow. If two roisterers met, they cocked their hats in each other faces. Macaulay. "factious": 1. Given to faction; addicted to form parties and raise dissensions, in opposition to government or the common good; turbulent; seditious; prone to clamor against public measures or men; -- said of persons. Factious for the house of Lancaster. Shak. 2. Pertaining to faction; proceeding from faction; indicating, or characterized by, faction; -- said of acts or expressions; as, factious quarrels. Headlong zeal or factious fury. Burke. -- Fac"tious*ly, adv. -- Fac"tious-ness, n. "bluster": 1. To blow fitfully with violence and noise, as wind; to be windy and boisterous, as the weather. And ever-threatening storms Of Chaos blustering round. Milton. 2. To talk with noisy violence; to swagger, as a turbulent or boasting person; to act in a noisy, tumultuous way; to play the bully; to storm; to rage. Your ministerial directors blustered like tragic tyrants. Burke. To utter, or do, with noisy violence; to force by blustering; to bully. He bloweth and blustereth out . . . his abominable blasphemy. Sir T. More. As if therewith he meant to bluster all princes into a perfect obedience to his commands. Fuller. 1. Fitful noise and violence, as of a storm; violent winds; boisterousness. To the winds they set Their corners, when with bluster to confound Sea, air, and shore. Milton. 2. Noisy and violent or threatening talk; noisy and boastful language. L'Estrange. Syn. -- Noise; boisterousness; tumult; turbulence; confusion; boasting; swaggering; bullying.

Difficulty: 19.08
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 547 But as Prabaker led me on through the roistering crowd, he drew my attention to other images of those beggars that softened the awful caricature presented by the performance of their piteousness.
Sen 27375 After too many long minutes of that brawling and roistering, we were near enough to Nariman Point to see the tower of the Oberoi Hotel.
187 roofline prev next

Difficulty: 18.98
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 16242 Some men appeared at the edge of the roofline on the train carriage.
Sen 16287 There was something stretched across the tracks, much higher than the roofline of the train.
188 moneychangers prev next

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 13801 One of the moneychangers tells the cops, Hey, if you wanna know about Lin, go ask in the zhopadpatti, because he lives there.
Sen 15289 I found local moneychangers, drug dealers, tour guides, thieves, and gigolos at each of the beaches.
189 sybaritic prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to the Sybarites; resembling the Sybarites; luxurious; wanton; effeminate. "Sybaritic dinners." Bp. Warburton. "Sybaritical cloistres." Bp. Hall. "sybaritical": Of or pertaining to the Sybarites; resembling the Sybarites; luxurious; wanton; effeminate. "Sybaritic dinners." Bp. Warburton. "Sybaritical cloistres." Bp. Hall.

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 17610 She was beautiful: a California beach beauty in the carnal jungle of Bombay; a pom-pom girl who’d pulled her-self out of the death-by-leeches of heroin and the sybaritic suffocation of Madame Zhou’s Palace.
Sen 24169 One of the sybaritic splendours of Bombay is the limitless variety of relatively inexpensive, well-made clothes constantly changing to reflect the newest Indian and foreign trends.
190 nahi prev next

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 15347 Mere kam, ki nahi…
Sen 27730 Malum nahi,’ the strong man replied.
191 undulations prev next
Definition  (undulation)
1. The act of undulating; a waving motion or vibration; as, the undulations of a fluid, of water, or of air; the undulations of sound. 2. A wavy appearance or outline; waviness. Evelyn. 3. (Mus.) (a) The tremulous tone produced by a peculiar pressure of the finger on a string, as of a violin. (b) The pulsation caused by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison; -- called also beat. 4. (Physics) A motion to and fro, up and down, or from side to side, in any fluid or elastic medium, propagated continuously among its particles, but with no translation of the particles themselves in the direction of the propagation of the wave; a wave motion; a vibration. "tremulous": 1. Shaking; shivering; quivering; as, a tremulous limb; a tremulous motion of the hand or the lips; the tremulous leaf of the poplar. 2. Affected with fear or timidity; trembling. The tender, tremulous Christian. Dr. H. More. -- Trem"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Trem"u*lous*ness, n. "undulating": Rising and falling like waves; resembling wave form or motion; undulatory; rolling; wavy; as, an undulating medium; undulating ground. -- Un"du*la`ting*ly. adv. "propagation": 1. The act of propagating; continuance or multiplication of the kind by generation or successive production; as, the propagation of animals or plants. There is not in nature any spontaneous generation, but all come by propagation. Ray. 2. The spreading abroad, or extension, of anything; diffusion; dissemination; as, the propagation of sound; the propagation of the gospel. Bacon. "waviness": The quality or state of being wavy. "pulsation": 1. (Physiol.) A beating or throbbing, especially of the heart or of an artery, or in an inflamed part; a beat of the pulse. 2. A single beat or throb of a series. 3. A stroke or impulse by which some medium is affected, as in the propagation of sounds. 4. (Law) Any touching of another's body willfully or in anger. This constitutes battery. By the Cornelian law, pulsation as well as verberation is prohibited. Blackstone.

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 376 The cement floor sloped downwards, with mysterious lumps and irregular undulations, toward the street windows.
Sen 7339 The bare earth floor was cracked, and formed in lumpy undulations.
192 sisterfuckers prev next

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 9492 One of those fellows, he called our fellows the sisterfuckers.
Sen 12526 Until then, we smoke, and pray to the God, and bite any sisterfuckers who try to take our plates, na?’
193 chappals prev next

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 19752 When at last I heard the sliding, scuffing sound of his chappals as he approached the door I smeared the sorrow from my face, and switched on the lamp.
Sen 27740 Their shoes or chappals must’ve been soled with soft rubber.
194 lambent prev next
Definition
1. Playing on the surface; touching lightly; gliding over. "A lambent flame." Dryden. "A lambent style." Beaconsfield. 2. Twinkling or gleaming; fickering. "The lambent purity of the stars." W. Irving.

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 8437 He bent low to place a tray on the floor between us, and for a moment I stared into the lambent blackness of his eyes.
Sen 28601 Beings of such lambent compassion, such sublime equanimity, that in my broken, exiled heart I pledged to love them, as every man and woman who saw them did.
195 unselfconscious prev next

Difficulty: 18.55
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 5696 It was a good laugh, guileless and completely unselfconscious, and I suddenly liked him because of it.
Sen 21258 Delighted and flushed with unselfconscious pride, he beamed one of his rare smiles at me.
196 kahan prev next

Difficulty: 18.55
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 24130 ‘Khaderbhai kahan hain?’ Where is Khaderbhai?
Sen 27228 ‘Kano-walleh kahan hey?’ I asked.
197 floodlit prev next

Difficulty: 18.44
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4744 To the right there were neon lights and floodlit fountains.
Sen 24502 A dozen steps led into the floodlit cellar.
198 chillums prev next

Difficulty: 18.38
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4564 The Babas moved from man to man and group to group, preparing hashish in funnel-shaped clay chillums for the customers, and smoking with them.
Sen 4594 One of the Standing Babas approached us slowly with an acolyte who held a silver tray containing chillums, charras, and the paraphernalia of smoking.
199 suppurating prev next
Definition  (suppurate)
To generate pus; as, a boil or abscess suppurates. To cause to generate pus; as, to suppurate a sore. Arbuthnot.

Difficulty: 18.34
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 12649 In any one night there were three to five bites; in a week, there were twenty; and, in a month, there were a hundred suppurating, infected sores on a man’s body.
Sen 12920 My body was covered in the small, suppurating sores caused by the bites of the nocturnal kadmal.
200 shambled prev next
Definition  (shamble)
1. (Mining) One of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus raised to a higher level. 2. pl. A place where butcher's meat is sold. As summer flies are in the shambles. Shak. 3. pl. A place for slaughtering animals for meat. To make a shambles of the parliament house. Shak. To walk awkwardly and unsteadily, as if the knees were weak; to shuffle along. "successively": In a successive manner. The whiteness, at length, changed successively into blue, indigo, and violet. Sir I. Newton.

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2347 I hesitated, but when the awkward star of his shuffling form melted in the darkness and vanished, I too put my feet out against the walls and shambled after him.
Sen 5382 Nevertheless, the round-up did mean days, weeks, or even months of confinement for the young men in prisons that were as bad as any in Asia, and the caravans of roped, arrested men that shambled throughout the city, after midnight, were more melancholy and forlorn than most funeral processions.
201 shamble prev next
Definition
1. (Mining) One of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus raised to a higher level. 2. pl. A place where butcher's meat is sold. As summer flies are in the shambles. Shak. 3. pl. A place for slaughtering animals for meat. To make a shambles of the parliament house. Shak. To walk awkwardly and unsteadily, as if the knees were weak; to shuffle along. "successively": In a successive manner. The whiteness, at length, changed successively into blue, indigo, and violet. Sir I. Newton.

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4745 To the left there was no electricity, no running water, no toilets, and no certainty that the whole shamble and bustle of it wouldn’t be swept away, from one day to the next, by the same authorities that reluctantly tolerated it.
Sen 11517 I was watching him shamble away down the lane toward the street, worrying about him, worrying about his young son, Satish, who was also ill, when I saw a woman in the distance walking toward me.
202 rankled prev next
Definition  (rankle)
1. To become, or be, rank; to grow rank or strong; to be inflamed; to fester; -- used literally and figuratively. A malady that burns and rankles inward. Rowe. This would have left a rankling wound in the hearts of the people. Burke. 2. To produce a festering or inflamed effect; to cause a sore; -- used literally and figuratively; as, a splinter rankles in the flesh; the words rankled in his bosom. To cause to fester; to make sore; to inflame. [R.] Beau. & Fl.

Difficulty: 18.16
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7790 It still rankled.
Sen 25344 The question still rankled six months later.
203 reverential prev next
Definition
Proceeding from, or expressing, reverence; having a reverent quality; reverent; as, reverential fear or awe. "A reverential esteem of things sacred." South. "reverent": 1. Disposed to revere; impressed with reverence; submissive; humble; respectful; as, reverent disciples. "They . . . prostrate fell before him reverent." Milton. 2. Expressing reverence, veneration, devotion, or submission; as, reverent words; reverent behavior. Joye.

Difficulty: 18.08
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 17593 For Lisa Carter, and others like her, the dream world of movies inspired an almost reverential awe.
Sen 22895 And because Suleiman’s commission had come directly from Massoud, the Lion of the Panjsher, the men gave him an equally reverential respect.
204 transacted prev next

Difficulty: 18.01
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1379 Yet a peculiar dialectic applied to the relationships between upstairs and down, inside and outside the restaurant, and governed all of the business transacted there.
Sen 1382 Deals for drugs and other contraband were openly transacted at the tables, but the goods could only be exchanged outside the bar.
205 fusillade prev next
Definition
A simultaneous discharge of firearms. To shoot down of shoot at by a simultaneous discharge of firearms.

Difficulty: 18.01
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 19194 It was torn apart by the fusillade.’
Sen 26022 ‘Get the fuck outta here!’ I spluttered, more shocked by his intention to marry than I was by his survival of the killing fusillade.
206 clamorous prev next
Definition
Speaking and repeating loud words; full of clamor; calling or demanding loudly or urgently; vociferous; noisy; bawling; loud; turbulent. "My young ones were clamorous for a morning's excursion." Southey. -- Clam"or*ous*ly, adv. -- Clam"or*ous*ness, n. "vociferous": Making a loud outcry; clamorous; noisy; as, vociferous heralds. -- Vo*cif"er*ous*ly, adv. -- Vo*cif"er*ous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.98
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1357 Alone again, I sat down, set my chair against the wall, and let the activity of Leopold’s and its clamorous patrons close over me.
Sen 5738 We passed through a wide stone arch, along a corridor and, after climbing two flights of stairs, we entered a vast room filled with people, smoke, and clamorous music.
207 castigated prev next
Definition  (castigate)
1. To punish by stripes; to chastise by blows; to chasten; also, to chastise verbally; to reprove; to criticise severely. 2. To emend; to correct. [Obs.] "chastise": 1. To inflict pain upon, by means of stripes, or in any other manner, for the purpose of punishment or reformation; to punish, as with stripes. How fine my master is! I am afraid He will chastise me. Shak. I am glad to see the vanity or envy of the canting chemists thus discovered and chastised. Boyle. 2. To reduce to order or obedience; to correct or purify; to free from faults or excesses. The gay, social sense, by decency chastised. Thomson. Syn. -- See Chasten. "emend": To purge of faults; to make better; to correct; esp., to make corrections in (a literary work); to alter for the better by textual criticism, generally verbal. Syn. -- To amend; correct; improve; better; reform; rectify. See Amend. "chasten": 1. To correct by punishment; to inflict pain upon the purpose of reclaiming; to discipline; as, to chasten a son with a rod. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. Heb. xii. 6. 2. To purify from errors or faults; to refine. They [classics] chasten and enlarge the mind, and excite to noble actions. Layard. Syn. -- To chastise; punish; correct; discipline; castigate; afflict; subdue; purify. To Chasten, Punish, Chastise. To chasten is to subject to affliction or trouble, in order to produce a general change for the better in life or character. To punish is to inflict penalty for violation of law, disobedience to authority, or intentional wrongdoing. To chastise is to punish a particular offense, as with stripes, especially with the hope that suffering or disgrace may prevent a repetition of faults. "reprove": 1. To convince. [Obs.] When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. John xvi. 9. 2. To disprove; to refute. [Obs.] Reprove my allegation, if you can. Shak. 3. To chide to the face as blameworthy; to accuse as guilty; to censure. What if thy son Prove disobedient, and, reproved, retort, "Wherefore didst thou beget me" Milton. 4. To express disapprobation of; as, to reprove faults. He neither reproved the ordinance of John, neither plainly condemned the fastings of the other men. Udall. Syn. -- To reprehend; chide; rebuke; scold; blame censure. -- Reprove, Rebuke, Reprimand. These words all signufy the expression of disapprobation. To reprove implies greater calmness and self-possession. To rebuke implies a more excited and personal feeling. A reproof may be administered long after the offience is committed, and is usually intended for the reformation of the offender; a rebuke is commonly given at the moment of the wrong, and is administered by way of punishment and condemnation. A reprimand proceeds from a person invested with authority, and is a formal and offiscial act. A child is reproved for his faults, and rebuked for his impudence. A military officer is reprimanded for neglect or violation of duty.

Difficulty: 17.95
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3917 The brothers of the murdered man stalked among them, giving encouragement and consolation while they castigated the backsliders for their cowardice.
Sen 4297 He castigated the men for shaming their own country and their own people by beating and robbing a foreigner, a visitor to their country who’d done them no harm.
208 bagmen prev next

Difficulty: 17.95
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 13623 Every morning he visited the bagmen for each area, and handed over bundles of rupees for the street traders to use as their float.
Sen 13626 Bagmen did the rounds of traders throughout the day, supplying them with cash as they needed it.
209 kapok prev next
Definition
A silky wool derived from the seeds of Ceiba pentandra (syn. Eriodendron anfractuosum), a bombaceous tree of the East and West Indies.

Difficulty: 17.95
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 9231 Kapok mattresses were available, but they were impractical.
Sen 19730 The room I chose had a cot with a kapok mattress, a weathered carpet, a small cabinet with wickerwork doors, a lamp with a silk lampshade, and a large clay matka filled with water.
210 testily prev next

Difficulty: 17.91
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 6157 ‘Yes, yes,’ he answered testily.
Sen 10125 ‘Yeah, I know who you’re talking about,’ I said testily, irritated by the conversational non sequitur.
211 smoulders prev next
Definition  (smoulder)
1. To burn and smoke without flame; to waste away by a slow and supressed combustion. The smoldering dust did round about him smoke. Spenser. 2. To exist in a state of suppressed or smothered activity; to burn inwardly; as, a smoldering feud. To smother; to suffocate; to choke. [Obs.] Holinshed. Palsgrave. Smoke; smother. [Obs.] The smolder stops our nose with stench. Gascoigne. See Smolder. "inwardly": 1. In the inner parts; internally. Let Benedick, like covered fire, Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly. Shak. 2. Toward the center; inward; as, to curve inwardly. 3. In the heart or mind; mentally; privately; secretas, he inwardly repines. 4. Intimately; thoroughly. [Obs.] I shall desire to know him more inwardly. Beau. & Fl. "palsgrave": A count or earl who presided in the domestic court, and had the superintendence, of a royal household in Germany. "smolder": 1. To burn and smoke without flame; to waste away by a slow and supressed combustion. The smoldering dust did round about him smoke. Spenser. 2. To exist in a state of suppressed or smothered activity; to burn inwardly; as, a smoldering feud. To smother; to suffocate; to choke. [Obs.] Holinshed. Palsgrave. Smoke; smother. [Obs.] The smolder stops our nose with stench. Gascoigne.

Difficulty: 17.88
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 113 Then the smoulders of shame and guilt flamed into anger, became fist-tightening rage at the unfairness of it: What kind of a government, I thought, what kind of a system allows suffering like this?
Sen 7947 In the eyes of some, I saw smoulders of shame for what the council’s power had forced too many of us to think: Thank God … Thank God it’s not me …
212 disconsolate prev next
Definition
Disconsolateness. [Obs.] Barrow. 1. Destitute of consolation; deeply dejected and dispirited; hopelessly sad; comfortless; filled with grief; as, a bereaved and disconsolate parent. One morn a Peri at the gate Of Eden stood disconsolate. Moore. The ladies and the knights, no shelter nigh, Were dropping wet, disconsolate and wan. Dryden. 2. Inspiring dejection; saddening; cheerless; as, the disconsolate darkness of the winter nights. Ray. Syn. -- Forlorn; melancholy; sorrowful; desolate; woeful; hopeless; gloomy. -- Dis*con"so*late*ly, adv. -- Dis*con"so*late*ness, n. "dispirited": Depressed in spirits; disheartened; daunted. -- Dis*pir"it*ed*ly, adv. -- Dis*pir"it*ed, n. "comfortless": Without comfort or comforts; in want or distress; cheerless. Comfortless through turanny or might. Spenser. Syn. -- Forlorn; desolate; cheerless; inconsolable; disconsolate; wretched; miserable. -- Com"fort*less*ly, adv. -- Com"fort*less*ness, n. When all is coldly, comfortlessly costly. Milton. "cheerless": Without joy, gladness, or comfort. -- Cheer"less*ly, adv. -- Cheer"less*ness, n. My cheerful day is turned to cheerles night. Spenser. Syn. -- Gloomy; sad; comfortless; dispiriting; dicsconsolate; dejected; melancholy; forlorn. "dejection": 1. A casting down; depression. [Obs. or Archaic] Hallywell. 2. The act of humbling or abasing one's self. Adoration implies submission and dejection. Bp. Pearson. 3. Lowness of spirits occasioned by grief or misfortune; mental depression; melancholy. What besides, Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair, Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring. Milton. 4. A low condition; weakness; inability. [R.] A dejection of appetite. Arbuthnot. 5. (Physiol.) (a) The discharge of excrement. (b) Fæces; excrement. Ray.

Difficulty: 17.82
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 9553 His expression—and I have no other way of describing the set of his features, other than as an expression—was disconsolate and profoundly distressed.
Sen 23140 And slowly, one ice-edged hour at a time, the knife of war whittled the wishing and hoping away until all that was left to us, within the hard, disconsolate wrap of our own arms around our own shivering bodies, was the lonely will to survive.
213 quizzically prev next
Definition  (quizzical)
Relating to quizzing: given to quizzing; of the nature of a quiz; farcical; sportive. -- Quiz"zic*al*ly, adv. "sportive": Tending to, engaged in, or provocate of, sport; gay; froliscome; playful; merry. Is it I That drive thee from the sportive court Shak. -- Sport"ive*ly, adv. -- Sport"ive*ness, n. "farcical": Pertaining to farce; appropriated to farce; ludicrous; unnatural; unreal. They deny the characters to be farcical, because they are Gay. -- Far"ci*cal*ly, adv. -Far"ci*cal*ness, n. Of or pertaining to the disease called farcy. See Farcy, n.

Difficulty: 17.80
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 9725 He smiled, and raised one eyebrow quizzically, but he said nothing more, and I was forced to explain myself further.
Sen 20218 He raised one eyebrow quizzically.
214 pendulous prev next
Definition
1. Depending; pendent loosely; hanging; swinging. Shak. "The pendulous round earth. Milton. 2. Wavering; unstable; doubtful. [R.] "A pendulous state of mind." Atterbury. 3. (Bot.) Inclined or hanging downwards, as a flower on a recurved stalk, or an ovule which hangs from the upper part of the ovary. "pendent": 1. Supported from above; suspended; depending; pendulous; hanging; as, a pendent leaf. "The pendent world." Shak. Often their tresses, when shaken, with pendent icicles tinkle. Longfellow. 2. Jutting over; projecting; overhanging. "A vapor sometime like a . . . pendent rock." Shak. "recurved": Curved in an opposite or uncommon direction; bent back; as, a bird with a recurved bill; flowers with recurved petals. "ovule": (a) The rudiment of a seed. It grows from a placenta, and consists of a soft nucleus within two delicate coatings. The attached base of the ovule is the hilum, the coatings are united with the nucleus at the chalaza, and their minute orifice is the foramen. (b) An ovum.

Difficulty: 17.74
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4217 The woman then scowled dramatically left and right along the corridor before raising her blouse a few centimetres to reveal a long, thin, pendulous breast.
Sen 9808 His most striking feature was his nose, an instrument so huge and magnificently pendulous that is seemed designed for some purpose altogether more grand than merely inhaling air and fragrances.
215 bouffant prev next

Difficulty: 17.72
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3923 One of them, Raju, a tall boy with the handsome face and bouffant hairstyle of a Bombay movie star, had a gun.
Sen 25014 He was thirty years old, fit and heavy-set, with thick, dark-brown hair that he blow-dried to match the bouffant of the movie heroes.
216 diffident prev next
Definition
1. Wanting confidence in others; distrustful. [Archaic] You were always extremely diffident of their success. Melmoth. 2. Wanting confidence in one's self; distrustful of one's own powers; not self-reliant; timid; modest; bashful; characterized by modest reserve. The diffident maidens, Folding their hands in prayer. Longfellow. Syn. -- Distrustful; suspicious; hesitating; doubtful; modest; bashful; lowly; reserved. "distrustful": 1. Not confident; diffident; wanting confidence or thrust; modest; as, distrustful of ourselves, of one's powers. Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks. Pope. 2. Apt to distrust; suspicious; mistrustful. Boyle. -- Dis*trust"ful*ly, adv. -- Dis*trust"ful*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 10378 A diffident smile flickered on her lips.
Sen 18095 The point man for Maurizio’s operation in Bombay was the diffident, dour Spaniard, Sebastian Modena.
217 dejection prev next
Definition
1. A casting down; depression. [Obs. or Archaic] Hallywell. 2. The act of humbling or abasing one's self. Adoration implies submission and dejection. Bp. Pearson. 3. Lowness of spirits occasioned by grief or misfortune; mental depression; melancholy. What besides, Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair, Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring. Milton. 4. A low condition; weakness; inability. [R.] A dejection of appetite. Arbuthnot. 5. (Physiol.) (a) The discharge of excrement. (b) Fæces; excrement. Ray. "lowness": The state or quality of being low.

Difficulty: 17.67
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 14355 ‘Drop me off, and keep the cab,’ he said, resting back against the seat and letting his face and body sag in a sigh of exhaustion or dejection.
Sen 22319 He was calm, but I knew him well enough to see the dejection that hooded his eyes.
218 clownish prev next
Definition
Of or resembling a clown, or characteristic of a clown; ungainly; awkward. "Clownish hands." Spenser. "Clownish mimic." Prior. -- Clown"ish*ly, adv. Syn. -- Coarse; rough; clumsy; awkward; ungainly; rude; uncivil; ill- bred; boorish; rustic; untutored. "ungainly": 1. Not gainly; not expert or dexterous; clumsy; awkward; uncouth; as, an ungainly strut in walking. His ungainly figure and eccentric manners. Macaulay. 2. Unsuitable; unprofitable. [Obs.] Hammond. In an ungainly manner. "uncivil": 1. Not civilized; savage; barbarous; uncivilized. Men can not enjoy the rights of an uncivil and of a civil state together. Burke. 2. Not civil; not complaisant; discourteous; impolite; rude; unpolished; as, uncivil behavior.

Difficulty: 17.67
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 15949 With clownish charm he held his open palms beside his smiling face one moment, and then pumped his groin back and forth with a determined little grimace the next.
Sen 20858 While I never managed to eliminate my clownish, arm-and-leg-flapping gestures when I made the animals stop or go or turn in a desired direction, I sometimes did succeed in dismounting them by climbing down rather than being hurled to the ground on my back.
219 tremulous prev next
Definition
1. Shaking; shivering; quivering; as, a tremulous limb; a tremulous motion of the hand or the lips; the tremulous leaf of the poplar. 2. Affected with fear or timidity; trembling. The tender, tremulous Christian. Dr. H. More. -- Trem"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Trem"u*lous*ness, n. "timidity": The quality or state of being timid; timorousness; timidness.

Difficulty: 17.67
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 16998 And by the time I swept into the last curve of coast near the Sea Rock Hotel, my mind was as clear as the broad horizon clamped upon the limit of a dark and tremulous sea.
Sen 26847 So Chandra Mehta smiled at me, and was glad to see me, and tried to pull me tighter into the tremulous clutch of his friendship whenever our paths crossed.
220 gazal prev next

Difficulty: 17.64
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 5531 The soul-wrenching strains of a romantic gazal slammed out at maximum volume from speakers behind our heads.
Sen 5792 ‘Urdu is the language of gazals, and these are the best gazal singers in all Bombay,’ he replied.
221 sonorous prev next
Definition
1. Giving sound when struck; resonant; as, sonorous metals. 2. Loud-sounding; giving a clear or loud sound; as, a sonorous voice. 3. Yielding sound; characterized by sound; vocal; sonant; as, the vowels are sonorous. 4. Impressive in sound; high-sounding. The Italian opera, amidst all the meanness and familiarty of the thoughts, has something beautiful and sonorous in the expression. Addison. There is nothing of the artificial Johnsonian balance in his style. It is as often marked by a pregnant brevity as by a sonorous amplitude. E. Everett. 5. (Med.) Sonant; vibrant; hence, of sounds produced in a cavity, deep- toned; as, sonorous rhonchi. Sonorous figures (Physics), figures formed by the vibrations of a substance capable of emitting a musical tone, as when the bow of a violin is drawn along the edge of a piece of glass or metal on which sand is strewed, and the sand arranges itself in figures according to the musical tone. Called also acoustic figures. -- Sonorous tumor (Med.), a tumor which emits a clear, resonant sound on percussion. -- So*no"rous*ly, adv. -- So*no"rous*ness, n. "sonant": 1. Of or pertaining to sound; sounding. 2. (Phonetics) Uttered, as an element of speech, with tone or proper vocal sound, as distinguished from mere breath sound; intonated; voiced; tonic; the opposite of nonvocal, or surd; -- sid of the vowels, semivowels, liquids, and nasals, and particularly of the consonants b, d, g hard, v, etc., as compared with their cognates p, t, k, f, etc., which are called nonvocal, surd, or aspirate. -- n. A sonant letter. "amplitude": 1. State of being ample; extent of surface or space; largeness of dimensions; size. The cathedral of Lincoln . . . is a magnificent structure, proportionable to the amplitude of the diocese. Fuller. 2. Largeness, in a figurative sense; breadth; abundance; fullness. (a) Of extent of capacity or intellectual powers. "Amplitude of mind." Milton. "Amplitude of comprehension." Macaulay. (b) Of extent of means or resources. "Amplitude of reward." Bacon. 3. (Astron.) (a) The arc of the horizon between the true east or west point and the center of the sun, or a star, at its rising or setting. At the rising, the amplitude is eastern or ortive: at the setting, it is western, occiduous, or occasive. It is also northern or southern, when north or south of the equator. (b) The arc of the horizon between the true east or west point and the foot of the vertical circle passing through any star or object. 4. (Gun.) The horizontal line which measures the distance to which a projectile is thrown; the range. 5. (Physics) The extent of a movement measured from the starting point or position of equilibrium; -- applied especially to vibratory movements. 6. (math.) An angle upon which the value of some function depends; -- a term used more especially in connection with elliptic functions. Magnetic amplitude, the angular distance of a heavenly body, when on the horizon, from the magnetic east or west point as indicated by the compass. The difference between the magnetic and the true or astronomical amplitude (see 3 above) is the "variation of the compass." "johnsonian": Pertaining to or resembling Dr. Johnson or his style; pompous; inflated. "brevity": 1. Shortness of duration; briefness of time; as, the brevity of human life. 2. Contraction into few words; conciseness. Brevity is the soul of wit. Shak. This argument is stated by St. John with his usual elegant brevity and simplicity. Bp. Porteus. Syn. -- Shortness; conciseness; succinctness; terseness. "resonant": Returning, or capable of returning, sound; fitted to resound; resounding; echoing back. Through every hour of the golden morning, the streets were resonant with female parties of young and old. De Quincey.

Difficulty: 17.57
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 663 Her voice, in that language and in that conversation, was surprisingly deep and sonorous; the hairs on my arms tingled in response to the sound of it.
Sen 25454 He loved to laugh and tell stories, and his self-assured, sonorous voice compelled attention.
222 pugnacious prev next
Definition
Disposed to fight; inclined to fighting; quarrelsome; fighting. --Pug*na"cious*ly, adv. -- Pug*na"cious*ness, n. "quarrelsome": Apt or disposed to quarrel; given to brawls and contention; easily irritated or provoked to contest; irascible; choleric. Syn. -- Pugnacious; irritable; irascible; brawling; choleric; fiery; petulant. -- Quar"rel*some*ly, adv. -- Quar"rel*some*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 6306 Many of the men had a defiant and even a jaunty air about them—a kind of pugnacious ugliness that was fascinating in itself.
Sen 9804 The third was drawn by the desperate, pugnacious unhappiness of his mouth, the upside-down horseshoe of bad luck that fate had nailed to the doorpost of his life.
223 preternaturally prev next
Definition
In a preternatural manner or degree. Bacon.

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7006 His usual smile was preternaturally wide and his dark eyes were happy.
Sen 9426 It seemed preternaturally quiet: the haunted stillness of a popular bar, closed for business.
224 kulfi prev next

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 18963 It began with a white soup entree made with lamb cooked in blanched-almond milk, worked its way through grilled chicken in a cayenne, cumin, and mango marinade, and ended, after many other side platters, with fruit salad, honey kachori balls, and kulfi ice cream.
Sen 25010 We’d worked our way through a big but healthy lunch and kulfi dessert, and had moved on to our second coffee.
225 seaward prev next
Definition
Directed or situated toward the sea. Donne. Two still clouds . . . sparkled on their seaward edges like a frosted fleece. G. W. Cable. Toward the sea. Drayton.

Difficulty: 17.47
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 372 It was a large room, with three single beds covered by sheets, one window to the seaward side, and a row of windows that looked down upon a busy street.
Sen 7725 Smoke rose in drifts from cooking fires, and stuttered on a sluggish seaward breeze to disperse over a scattering of canoes that fished the muddy shore.
226 portentous prev next
Definition
1. Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreschadowing, esp. foreschadowing ill; ominous. For, I believe, they are portentous things. Shak. Victories of strange and almost portentous splendor. Macaulay. 2. Hence: Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; dreadful; as, a beast of portentous size. Roscommon. -- Por*tent"ous*ly, adv. -- Por*tent"ous*ness, n. "portent": That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign. Shak. My loss by dire portents the god foretold. Dryden.

Difficulty: 17.47
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7794 Her tone was suddenly serious, portentous.
Sen 16987 As I rode the wind, a week after Khader’s little lecture on ethics, weaving the bike through ancient-modern traffic beneath a darkening, portentous tumble of clouds, those words echoed in my mind.
227 fluency prev next
Definition
The quality of being fluent; smoothness; readiness of utterance; volubility. The art of expressing with fluency and perspicuity. Macaulay. "volubility": The quality or state of being voluble (in any of the senses of the adjective). "perspicuity": 1. The quality or state of being transparent or translucent. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne. 2. The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought. 3. Sagacity; perspicacity. Syn. -- Clearness; perspicuousness; plainness; distinctness; lucidity; transparency. See Clearness. "utterance": 1. The act of uttering. Specifically: -- (a) Sale by offering to the public. [Obs.] Bacon. (b) Putting in circulation; as, the utterance of false coin, or of forged notes. (c) Vocal expression; articulation; speech. At length gave utterance to these words. Milton. 2. Power or style of speaking; as, a good utterance. They . . . began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts ii. 4. O, how unlike To that large utterance of the early gods! Keats. The last extremity; the end; death; outrance. [Obs.] Annibal forced those captives whom he had taken of our men to skirmish one against another to the utterance. Holland. "smoothness": Quality or state of being smooth.

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 8348 Karla was young and attractive, sure, but most of the driver’s reaction was inspired by her fluency with his language, and the way she used it to deal with him.
Sen 20332 My fluency had forced him to communicate with me in Urdu most of the time.
228 tabla prev next

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 12872 Sitting in circles of twelve or more men, and tapping on their upturned aluminium plates as if they were tabla drums, the prisoners sang love songs from their favourite movies.
Sen 20794 I watched the long, slender fingers of the tabla players clap and caress the trembling skins of the drums, and I felt my thoughts drift away from me in the hypnotic flutter and flow of the music.
229 packhorses prev next

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 21292 There were ten men walking, twenty men riding, fifteen packhorses, and a herd of ten goats.
Sen 21934 Siddiqi was strapped across one of the packhorses, as was the body of Madjid, the Afghan who’d been killed in the attack.
230 perceptible prev next
Definition
Capable of being perceived; cognizable; discernible; perceivable. With a perceptible blast of the air. Bacon. -- Per*cep"ti*ble*ness, n. -- Per*cep"ti*bly, adv. "cognizable": 1. Capable of being known or apprehended; as, cognizable causes. 2. Fitted to be a subject of judicial investigation; capable of being judicially heard and determined. Cognizable both in the ecclesiastical and secular courts. Ayliffe. "discernible": Capable of being discerned by the eye or the understanding; as, a star is discernible by the eye; the identity of difference of ideas is discernible by the understanding. The effect of the privations and sufferings . . . was discernible to the last in his temper and deportment. Macaulay. Syn. -- Perceptible; distinguishable; apparent; visible; evident; manifest. "perceivable": Capable of being perceived; perceptible. -- Per*ceiv"a*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 17.29
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 8114 I looked at the back of her head, at the small part of her profile, at the barely perceptible bump of her breasts beneath the green shawl, and the long, thin fingers making prayer in her lap, and I couldn’t imagine her living with someone.
Sen 9054 There was a perceptible sharpening of focus and attention in the few silent moments as Khaderbhai gathered his thoughts.
231 reflexive prev next
Definition
1. Etym: [Cf. F. réflexif.] Bending or turned backward; reflective; having respect to something past. Assurance reflexive can not be a divine faith. Hammond. 2. Implying censure. [Obs.] "What man does not resent an ugly reflexive word" South. 3. (Gram.) Having for its direct object a pronoun which refers to the agent or subject as its antecedent; -- said of certain verbs; as, the witness perjured himself; I bethought myself. Applied also to pronouns of this class; reciprocal; reflective. -- Re*flex"ive*ly, adv. -- Re*flex"ive*ness, n. In a reflex manner; reflectively. "antecedent": 1. Going before in time; prior; anterior; preceding; as, an event antecedent to the Deluge; an antecedent cause. 2. Presumptive; as, an antecedent improbability. Syn. -- Prior; previous; foregoing. 1. That which goes before in time; that which precedes. South. The Homeric mythology, as well as the Homeric language, has surely its antecedents. Max Miller. 2. One who precedes or goes in front. [Obs.] My antecedent, or my gentleman usher. Massinger. 3. pl. The earlier events of one's life; previous principles, conduct, course, history. J. H. Newman. If the troops . . . prove worthy of their antecedents, the victory is surely ours. Gen. G. McClellan. 4. (Gram.) The noun to which a relative refers; as, in the sentence "Solomon was the prince who built the temple," prince is the antecedent of who. 5. (Logic) (a) The first or conditional part of a hypothetical proposition; as, If the earth is fixed, the sun must move. (b) The first of the two propositions which constitute an enthymeme or contracted syllogism; as, Every man is mortal; therefore the king must die. 6. (Math.) The first of the two terms of a ratio; the first or third of the four terms of a proportion. In the ratio a:b, a is the antecedent, and b the consequent. "etym": See Etymon. H. F. Talbot. "pronoun": A word used instead of a noun or name, to avoid the repetition of it. The personal pronouns in English are I, thou or you, he, she, it, we, ye, and they. "bethought": imp. & p. p. of Bethink.

Difficulty: 17.29
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 14057 Every squeeze of the spray was followed by a reflexive, polishing rub of his brass taxi driver’s identification badge, which he wore with swaggering pride.
Sen 22003 ‘For Christ’s sake!’ I sighed, with a last reflexive giggle of laughter.
232 inexpressible prev next
Definition
Not capable of expression or utterance in language; ineffable; unspeakable; indescribable; unutterable; as, inexpressible grief or pleasure. "Inexpressible grandeur." Blair. In orbs Of circuit inexpressible they stood. Milton. "ineffable": Incapable of being expresses in words; unspeakable; unutterable; indescribable; as, the ineffable joys of heaven. Contentment with our lot . . . will diffuse ineffable contenBeattie. "unutterable": Not utterable; incapable of being spoken or voiced; inexpressible; ineffable; unspeakable; as, unutterable anguish. Sighed and looked unutterable things. Thomson. -- Un*ut"ter*a*ble*ness, n. -- Un*ut"ter*a*bly, adv. "utterance": 1. The act of uttering. Specifically: -- (a) Sale by offering to the public. [Obs.] Bacon. (b) Putting in circulation; as, the utterance of false coin, or of forged notes. (c) Vocal expression; articulation; speech. At length gave utterance to these words. Milton. 2. Power or style of speaking; as, a good utterance. They . . . began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts ii. 4. O, how unlike To that large utterance of the early gods! Keats. The last extremity; the end; death; outrance. [Obs.] Annibal forced those captives whom he had taken of our men to skirmish one against another to the utterance. Holland.

Difficulty: 17.27
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7093 In its brawny grip, it seemed to me that I was floating, or perhaps falling, from some exalted place of inexpressible peace and promise.
Sen 7968 There was such sad tenderness in it that, for a second or two, I floated free, and was adrift in its inexpressible kindnesses.
233 mafiosi prev next

Difficulty: 17.27
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 25328 Lettie had once said that she found it strange and incongruous to hear me describe criminals, killers, and mafiosi as men of honour.
Sen 26924 And the clothes—I knew them well from the shopping expeditions that Sanjay Andrew, Faisal, and the other mafiosi made to the most expensive stores in the city.
234 emblazoned prev next
Definition  (emblazon)
1. To depict or represent; -- said of heraldic bearings. See Blazon. 2. To deck in glaring colors; to set off conspicuously; to display pompously; to decorate. The walls were . . . emblazoned with legends in commemoration of the illustrious pair. Prescott. "commemoration": 1. The act of commemorating; an observance or celebration designed to honor the memory of some person or event. This sacrament was designed to be a standing commemoration of the death and passion of our Lord. Abp. Tillotson. The commonwealth which . . . chooses the most flagrant act of murderous regicide treason for a feast of eternal commemoration. Burke. 2. Whatever serves the purpose of commemorating; a memorial. Commemoration day, at the University of Oxford, Eng., an annual observance or ceremony in honor of the benefactors of the University, at which time honorary degrees are conferred. "blazon": 1. A shield. [Obs.] 2. An heraldic shield; a coat of arms, or a bearing on a coat of arms; armorial bearings. Their blazon o'er his towers displayed. Sir W. Scott. 3. The art or act of describing or depicting heraldic bearings in the proper language or manner. Peacham. 4. Ostentatious display, either by words or other means; publication; show; description; record. Obtrude the blazon of their exploits upon the company. Collier. Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit, Do give thee fivefold blazon. Shak. 1. To depict in colors; to display; to exhibit conspicuously; to publish or make public far and wide. Thyself thou blazon'st. Shak. There pride sits blazoned on th' unmeaning brow. Trumbull. To blazon his own worthless name. Cowper. 2. To deck; to embellish; to adorn. She blazons in dread smiles her hideous form. Garth. 3. (Her.) To describe in proper terms (the figures of heraldic devices); also, to delineate (armorial bearings); to emblazon. The coat of , arms, which I am not herald enough to blazon into English. Addison. To shine; to be conspicuous. [R.] "heraldic": Of or pertaining to heralds or heraldry; as, heraldic blazoning; heraldic language. T. Warton.

Difficulty: 17.25
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1181 He shouted to one of the red-jacketed waiters, calling the man by the number ‘4’ emblazoned on the breast pocket on his uniform.
Sen 21442 Each time, Khader raised his green-and-white mujaheddin flag emblazoned with the Koranic phrase:
235 lazily prev next
Definition
In a lazy manner. Locke.

Difficulty: 17.25
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1197 ‘You would say that I think money is the best thing in the world,’ he suggested lazily, ‘and we’d both be right.
Sen 16684 He caught the eye of a waiter, and waved a hand lazily for another drink.
236 ladoo prev next

Difficulty: 17.24
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 8777 He left the room, returned momentarily to place two bowls of ladoo and barfi sweets on the table, and then left us once more.
Sen 14619 Another grasped a plate bearing several sweet ladoo.
237 gunrunner prev next

Difficulty: 17.22
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 13 I worked as a gunrunner, a smuggler, and a counterfeiter.
Sen 24034 The temptation to talk about the American gunrunner who was wounded in battle, fighting with the mujaheddin, was irresistible.
238 acrid prev next
Definition
1. Sharp and harsh, or bitter and not, to the taste; pungent; as, acrid salts. 2. Causing heat and irritation; corrosive; as, acrid secretions. 3. Caustic; bitter; bitterly irritating; as, acrid temper, mind, writing. Acrid poison, a poison which irritates, corrodes, or burns the parts to which it is applied. "caustic": 1. Capable of destroying the texture of anything or eating away its substance by chemical action; burning; corrosive; searing. 2. Severe; satirical; sharp; as, a caustic remark. Caustic curve (Optics), a curve to which the ray of light, reflected or refracted by another curve, are tangents, the reflecting or refracting curve and the luminous point being in one plane. -- Caustic lime. See under Lime. -- Caustic potash, Caustic soda (Chem.), the solid hydroxides potash, KOH, and soda, NaOH, or solutions of the same. -- Caustic silver, nitrate of silver, lunar caustic. -- Caustic surface (Optics), a surface to which rays reflected or refracted by another surface are tangents. Caustic curves and surfaces are called catacaustic when formed by reflection, and diacaustic when formed by refraction. Syn. -- Stinging; cutting; pungent; searching. 1. Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic. 2. (Optics) A caustic curve or caustic surface.

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4838 The smell of burning plastic, fuel, clothes, hair, and flesh was acrid and unnerving.
Sen 12397 The smoke given off was acrid and thick with a greasy soot that settled on everything it touched.
239 equidistant prev next
Definition
Being at an equal distance from the same point or thing. -- E`qui*dis"tant*ly, adv. Sir T. Browne.

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7615 It was a vast, cavernous space, divided by equidistant columns and canopied by a flat, concrete ceiling adorned with a creepery of cables.
Sen 21436 Habib laid out a route that was roughly equidistant between towns and larger villages, always avoiding the main arteries that local people used.
240 sinuous prev next
Definition
Bending in and out; of a serpentine or undulating form; winding; crooked. -- Sin"u*ous*ly, adv. Streaking the ground with sinuous trace. Milton. Gardens bright with sinuous rills. Coleridge. "undulating": Rising and falling like waves; resembling wave form or motion; undulatory; rolling; wavy; as, an undulating medium; undulating ground. -- Un"du*la`ting*ly. adv.

Difficulty: 17.16
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2269 The main road became streets and the streets became lanes and, when those proved too narrow for the taxi to negotiate, we left the vehicle and walked together in the sinuous busyness of the crowds.
Sen 16320 And I danced on that steel serpent as it slithered sinuous beside the scroll and swell of the endless, imperishable sea.
241 incipient prev next
Definition
Beginning to be, or to show itself; commencing; initial; as, the incipient stage of a fever; incipient light of day. -- In*cip"i*ent*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 17.16
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 6357 Ranjit’s own eyes were honey-coloured, and clouded by what I judged to be incipient cataracts.
Sen 26972 His success with The Post, as it was known, had allowed Ranjit to segue into the incipient field of independent television production.
242 hungrily prev next
Definition
In a hungry manner; voraciously. Dryden.

Difficulty: 17.15
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 275 Prabaker shouted at his unruly colleagues, and they retreated a few paces, staring hungrily at our collection of bags and packs.
Sen 4224 ‘You know, Lin,’ Prabaker mumbled, gaping hungrily and almost fearfully at the drips of oil.
243 sheaf prev next
Definition
A sheave. [R.] 1. A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw. The reaper fills his greedy hands, And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands. Dryden. 2. Any collection of things bound together; a bundle; specifically, a bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer, -- usually twenty-four. The sheaf of arrows shook and rattled in the case. Dryden. To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat. To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves. They that reap must sheaf and bind. Shak. "sheave": A wheel having a groove in the rim for a rope to work in, and set in a block, mast, or the like; the wheel of a pulley. Sheave hole, a channel cut in a mast, yard, rail, or other timber, in which to fix a sheave. To gather and bind into a sheaf or sheaves; hence, to collect. Ashmole.

Difficulty: 17.15
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 858 He took a sheaf of rupee notes from his shirt pocket, peeled off a number, and passed them across with his palm turned downward.
Sen 12930 When I managed, that morning, to scrounge a stub of pencil and a small sheaf of discarded sugar-ration wrappers, I felt ready at last to write down the lines of the first page.
244 characterises prev next

Difficulty: 17.15
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 11224 What characterises the human race more, Karla once asked me, cruelty, or the capacity to feel shame for it?
Sen 11225 I thought the question acutely clever then, when I first heard it, but I’m lonelier and wiser now, and I know it isn’t cruelty or shame that characterises the human race.
245 transfigured prev next
Definition  (transfigure)
1. To change the outward form or appearance of; to metamorphose; to transform. 2. Especially, to change to something exalted and glorious; to give an ideal form to. [Jesus] was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. Matt. xvii. 2. "raiment": 1. Clothing in general; vesture; garments; -- usually singular in form, with a collective sense. Living, both food and raiment she supplies. Dryden. 2. An article of dress. [R. or Obs.] Sir P. Sidney. "metamorphose": To change into a different form; to transform; to transmute. And earth was metamorphosed into man. Dryden. Same as Metamorphosis.

Difficulty: 17.13
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 21584 And that face—I’d said, once, that I’d never seen another human face in which the smile was so utterly defeated—that scowl-creased face was transfigured in the dance until his honest, selfless beauty was so radiant that it filled my eyes with tears.
Sen 27336 Kano was not simply disguised—he was transfigured into the form of the elephant-headed god.
246 scrubby prev next
Definition
Of the nature of scrub; small and mean; stunted in growth; as, a scrubby cur. "Dense, scrubby woods." Duke of Argull.

Difficulty: 17.12
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 21083 Before we reached the town, however, we took a side road that seemed to end in a deserted track, with a stand of trees and several scrubby pastures, about thirty kilometres north of the main highway and the Chaman Pass.
Sen 21468 There were short, scrubby bushes with tiny yellow leaves that the goats enjoyed, and many varieties of wild grasses topped with feathery bowers of dried seed for the horses.
247 lassi prev next

Difficulty: 17.09
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2962 A passing waiter took our last order, and moments later brought a banana lassi for Karla and a chai for me.
Sen 5633 Khaderbhai and I had ordered only mango-flavoured lassi.
248 endeared prev next
Definition  (endear)
1. To make dear or beloved. "To be endeared to a king." Shak. 2. To raise the price or cost of; to make costly or expensive. [R.] King James I. (1618).

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1042 The fact that I trusted him on sight and didn’t haggle, on that first day, that I didn’t try to make a buck out of him, that I worked on an instinct that respected him and was prepared to like him, endeared me to him.
Sen 20561 It was a disarming expression, and it endeared him to me at once.
249 tribesman prev next

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4617 A man dressed in the red turban, vest, and silk trousers of a northern tribesman stood there, near the iron gate, shrieking at the very top of a strong voice.
Sen 4636 At the last possible moment, a man stepped out from the wall at the side, tripped the goose-stepping tribesman, and sent him crashing to the stone floor.
250 fatalistic prev next
Definition
Implying, or partaking of the nature of, fatalism. "fatalism": The doctrine that all things are subject to fate, or that they take place by inevitable necessity.

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 13924 But even then, as I formed the clear thought to flee the city, I felt myself relaxing into a dense, fatalistic calm.
Sen 24902 And behind that almost spiritual awe there was a dull, throbbing, fatalistic dread.
251 ingenuous prev next
Definition
1. Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth. 2. Noble; generous; magnanimous; honorable; uprigth; high-minded; as, an ingenuous ardor or zeal. If an ingenuous detestation of falsehood be but carefully and early instilled, that is the true and genuin method to obviate dishonesty. Locke. 3. Free from reserve, disguise, equivocation, or dissimulation; open; frank; sa, an ingenuous man; an ingenuous declaration, confession, etc. Sensible in myself . . . what a burden it is for me, who would be ingenuous, to be loaded with courtesies which he hath not the least hope to requite or deserve. Fuller. 4. Ingenious. [Obs.] Shak. Note: (Formerly) printers did not discriminate between . . . ingenuous and ingenious, and these words were used or rather printed interchangeably almost to the begining of the eighteenth century. G. P. Marsh. Syn. -- Open; frank; unreserved; artless; plain; sincere; candid; fair; noble; generous. -- Ingenuous, Open, Frank. One who is open speaks out at once what is uppermost in his mind; one who is frank does it from a natural boldness, or dislike of self-restraint; one who is ingenuous is actuated by a native simplicity and artlessness, which make him willing to confess faults, and make known his sentiments without reserve. See Candid. "unreserved": Not reserved; not kept back; not withheld in part; unrestrained. -- Un`re*serv"ed*ly, adv. -- Un`re*serv"ed*ness, n. "artless": 1. Wanting art, knowledge, or skill; ignorant; unskillful. Artless of stars and of the moving sand. Dryden. 2. Contrived without skill or art; inartistic. [R.] Artless and massy pillars. T. Warton. 3. Free from guile, art, craft, or stratagem; characterized by simplicity and sincerity; sincere; guileless; ingenuous; honest; as, an artless mind; an artless tale. They were plain, artless men, without the least appearance of enthusiasm or credulity about them. Porteus. O, how unlike the complex works of man, Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered plan! Cowper. Syn. -- Simple; unaffected; sincere; undesigning; guileless; unsophisticated; open; frank; candid. "ardor": 1. Heat, in a literal sense; as, the ardor of the sun's rays. 2. Warmth or heat of passion or affection; eagerness; zeal; as, he pursues study with ardor; the fought with ardor; martial ardor. 3. pl. Bright and effulgent spirits; seraphim. [Thus used by Milton.] Syn. -- Fervor; warmth; eagerness. See Fervor. "obviate": 1. To meet in the way. [Obs.] Not to stir a step to obviate any of a different religion. Fuller. 2. To anticipate; to prevent by interception; to remove from the way or path; to make unnecessary; as, to obviate the necessity of going. To lay down everything in its full light, so as to obviate all exceptions. Woodward. "artlessness": The quality of being artless, or void of art or guile; simplicity; sincerity. "equivocation": The use of expressions susceptible of a double signification, with a purpose to mislead. There being no room for equivocations, there is no need of distinctions. Locke. Syn. -- Prevarication; ambiguity; shuffling; evasion; guibbling. See Equivocal, a., and Prevaricate, v. i. "dissimulation": The act of dissembling; a hiding under a false appearance; concealment by feigning; false pretension; hypocrisy. Let love be without dissimulation. Rom. xii. 9. Dissimulation . . . when a man lets fall signs and arguments that he is not that he is. Bacon. Simulation is a pretense of what is not, and dissimulation a concealment of what is. Tatler. "freeborn": Born free; not born in vasssalage; inheriting freedom. "detestation": The act of detesting; extreme hatred or dislike; abhorrence; loathing. We are heartily agreed in our detestation of civil war. Burke. "requite": To repay; in a good sense, to recompense; to return (an equivalent) in good; to reward; in a bad sense, to retaliate; to return (evil) for evil; to punish. He can requite thee; for he knows the charma That call fame on such gentle acts as these. Milton. Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand. Ps. x. 14. Syn. -- To repay; reward; pay; compensate; remunerate; satisfy; recompense; punish; revenge. "uppermost": Highest in place, position, rank, power, or the like; upmost; supreme. Whatever faction happens to be uppermost. Swift.

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 20741 He laughed as he asked the question, and his tone was as honest and ingenuous as it ever was, but still the words stabbed into my mind.
Sen 26909 ‘That’s funny,’ I answered, not sure if he was as ingenuous as he seemed to be.
252 piquant prev next
Definition
Stimulating to the taste; giving zest; tart; sharp; pungent; as, a piquant anecdote. "As piquant to the tongue as salt." Addison. "Piquant railleries." Gov. of Tongue.

Difficulty: 17.04
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 919 The taste was sharp and luscious—honeyed and subtly piquant at the same time.
Sen 21569 Those dishes included flavoured yoghurts, piquant goat’s or sheep’s milk cheeses, oven-baked cakes made with corn flour, dates, nuts, and wild honey, biscuits baked with richly churned goat’s milk butter and, of course, a variety of halal meats and vegetable pulao.
253 culottes prev next

Difficulty: 17.02
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2642 Lettie wore a fine, bone-coloured brocade jacket over loose, dark-brown satin culottes, and boots.
Sen 17003 She wore a starched, sky-blue shirt with the collar turned up, and sky-blue culottes.
254 pantaloons prev next
Definition  (pantaloon)
1. Aridiculous character, or an old dotard, in the Italian comedy; also, a buffoon in pantomimes. Addison. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. Shak. 2. pl. A bifurcated garment for a man, covering the body from the waist downwards, and consisting of breeches and stockings in one. 3. pl. In recent times, same as Trousers. "slippered": Wearing slippers. Shak. "dotard": One whose mind is impaired by age; one in second childhood. The sickly dotard wants a wife. Prior. "bifurcated": Two-pronged; forked.

Difficulty: 17.02
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 8759 He was dressed in the green pantaloons and long tunic of Afghan traditional dress.
Sen 19952 Khader was dressed in the loose pantaloons, shirt, and tunic-vest of the Pathans.
255 tousled prev next
Definition  (tousle)
To put into disorder; to tumble; to touse. [Colloq.] "touse": To pull; to haul; to tear; to worry. [Prov. Eng.] Shak. As a bear, whom angry curs have touzed. Spenser. A pulling; a disturbance. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Difficulty: 17.02
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 15773 There was nothing but the waves breaking like the curved spines of playful porpoises, and the traceless, empty, tousled sheets of sand.
Sen 24203 Her thick, dark brown hair was tousled and awry.
256 ampoules prev next

Difficulty: 17.01
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 6370 He knelt to roll out the canvas, and revealed a collection of ampoules and plastic bottles.
Sen 23107 I scraped through the wreckage to retrieve some antibiotics, disinfectants, ointments, bandages, suture needles, thread, syringes, and morphine ampoules.
257 thirtieth prev next
Definition
1. Next in order after the twenty-ninth; the tenth after the twentieth; -- the ordinal of thirty; as, the thirtieth day of the month. 2. Constituting or being one of thirty equal parts into which anything is divided. The quotient of a unit divided by thirty; one of thirty equal parts. "ordinal": 1. Indicating order or succession; as, the ordinal numbers, first, second, third, etc. 2. Of or pertaining to an order. 1. A word or number denoting order or succession. 2. (Ch. of Eng.) The book of forms for making, ordaining, and consecrating bishops, priests, and deacons. 3. (R. C. Ch.) A book containing the rubrics of the Mass. [Written also ordinale.] "quotient": 1. (Arith.) The number resulting from the division of one number by another, and showing how often a less number is contained in a greater; thus, the quotient of twelve divided by four is three. 2. (Higher Alg.) The result of any process inverse to multiplication. See the Note under Multiplication.

Difficulty: 17.01
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 8038 The new part of the city was celebrating its thirtieth year, then, and Old Delhi its three hundredth.
Sen 25821 But it was Abdullah Taheri, his ghost, as handsome as Omar Sharif on his thirtieth birthday, as lethal as a big cat prowling, a black panther, and with those eyes the colour of sand in the palm of your hand a half-hour before sunset.
258 lamplights prev next
Definition  (lamplight)
Light from a lamp. This world's artificial lamplights. Owen Meredith.

Difficulty: 17.01
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 6908 Lamplights fluttered in the breeze, passing the golden gleam from eye to eye, as shadows chased one another across the reed-mat walls of the huts.
Sen 20836 I smiled into the golden eyes filled with tiny, swaying lamplights, and secrets, and sacred pleasures summoned by the singing.
259 penury prev next
Definition
1. Absence of resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme poverty; destitution. "A penury of military forces." Bacon. They were exposed to hardship and penury. Sprat. It arises in neither from penury of thought. Landor. 2. Penuriousness; miserliness. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor. "privation": 1. The act of depriving, or taking away; hence, the depriving of rank or office; degradation in rank; deprivation. Bacon. 2. The state of being deprived or destitute of something, especially of something required or desired; destitution; need; as, to undergo severe privations. 3. The condition of being absent; absence; negation. Evil will be known by consequence, as being only a privation, or absence, of good. South. Privation mere of light and absent day. Milton. "destitution": The state of being deprived of anything; the state or condition of being destitute, needy, or without resources; deficiency; lack; extreme poverty; utter want; as, the inundation caused general destitution. "sprat": (a) A small European herring (Clupea sprattus) closely allied to the common herring and the pilchard; -- called also garvie. The name is also applied to small herring of different kinds. (b) A California surf-fish (Rhacochilus toxotes); -- called also alfione, and perch. Sprat borer (Zoöl.), the red-throated diver; -- so called from its fondness for sprats. See Diver. -- Sprat loon. (Zoöl.) (a) The young of the great northern diver. [Prov. Eng.] (b) The red-throated diver. See Diver. -- Sprat mew (Zoöl.), the kittiwake gull. "indigence": The condition of being indigent; want of estate, or means of comfortable subsistence; penury; poverty; as, helpless, indigence. Cowper. Syn. -- Poverty; penury; destitution; want; need; privation; lack. See Poverty.

Difficulty: 16.99
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2297 The buildings were cracked and smeared, the constricted passage-ways were crowded with goats, chickens, dogs, and people, and each thin face showed the shade and hollows of penury, but the streets and the people were stainlessly, scrupulously clean.
Sen 18093 The remnants of his family cast him out, no less for his penury than for the many scandals that had pursued his profligate progress through the Middle East and Asia.
260 fibreglass prev next

Difficulty: 16.99
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 27308 The elderly sculptor raised his grizzled brows when we entered his hut, but affected to ignore us and continued with the work of sanding and polishing a newly moulded section of a fibreglass religious frieze almost two metres in length.
Sen 27310 Wood and fibreglass shavings covered the table and lay in chips and whorls, along with rinds of papier-måché, at his bare feet.
261 convulsion prev next
Definition
1. (Med.) An unnatural, violent, and unvoluntary contraction of the muscular parts of an animal body. 2. Any violent and irregular motion or agitation; a violent shaking; a tumult; a commotion. Those two massy pillars, With horrible convulsion, to and fro He tugged, he shook, till down they came. Milton. Times of violence and convulsion. Ames. Syn. -- Agitation; commotion; tumult; disturbance. "unvoluntary": Involuntary. [Obs.] Fuller. "massy": Compacted into, or consisting of, a mass; having bulk and weight ot substance; ponderous; bulky and heavy; weight; heavy; as, a massy shield; a massy rock. Your swords are now too massy for your strengths, And will not be uplifted. Shak. Yawning rocks in massy fragments fly. Pope. "tumult": 1. The commotion or agitation of a multitude, usually accompanied with great noise, uproar, and confusion of voices; hurly-burly; noisy confusion. What meaneth the noise of this tumult 1 Sam. iv. 14. Till in loud tumult all the Greeks arose. Pope. 2. Violent commotion or agitation, with confusion of sounds; as, the tumult of the elements. Addison. 3. Irregular or confused motion; agitation; high excitement; as, the tumult of the spirits or passions. Syn. -- Uproar; ferment; disturbance; turbulence; disorder; confusion; noise; bluster; hubbub; bustle; stir; brawl; riot. To make a tumult; to be in great commotion. [Obs.] Importuning and tumulting even to the fear of a revolt. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.96
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2267 And with the seed of that resolve, born in that convulsion and portent, Prabaker’s dark circuit of the city began.
Sen 11385 She clutched at her belly and curled up in a ball, only to fling her arms and legs outward in a back-arching convulsion.
262 clambering prev next
Definition  (clamber)
To climb with difficulty, or with hands and feet; -- also used figuratively. The narrow street that clambered toward the mill. Tennyson. The act of clambering. T. Moore. To ascend by climbing with difficulty. Clambering the walls to eye him. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.93
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 10468 The boy did so at once, clambering up piggyback style, and wrapping his thin arms around my neck tightly.
Sen 11330 Lin!’ my neighbour Jeetendra called out in a frightened shriek, and we turned to see him clambering over the rocks toward us.
263 cruellest prev next

Difficulty: 16.93
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 12593 I was walking into the worst of the city, one of her cruellest and most iniquitous defiles, but some instinct flooded my mind with a loveliness I’d found in her—that path, across the sea, to the white minarets of the saint’s tomb.
Sen 13229 I was dying of hunger, and I was learning that it’s one of the cruellest ways to kill a man.
264 pallid prev next
Definition
Deficient in color; pale; wan; as, a pallid countenance; pallid blue. Spenser.

Difficulty: 16.91
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1505 When he wasn’t smiling his face looked flabby, slack, and pallid grey.
Sen 18245 His skin was pallid, matt, and in some places marbled-grey.
265 recalcitrant prev next
Definition
Kicking back; recalcitrating; hence, showing repugnance or opposition; refractory. "refractory": 1. Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast. Raging appetites that are Most disobedient and refractory. Shak. 2. Resisting ordinary treatment; difficult of fusion, reduction, or the like; -- said especially of metals and the like, which do not readily yield to heat, or to the hammer; as, a refractory ore. Syn. -- Perverse; contumacious; unruly; stubborn; obstinate; unyielding; ungovernable; unmanageable. 1. A refractory person. Bp. Hall. 2. Refractoriness. [Obs.] Jer. TAylor. 3. OPottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles. Knight. "repugnance": The state or condition of being repugnant; opposition; contrariety; especially, a strong instinctive antagonism; aversion; reluctance; unwillingness, as of mind, passions, principles, qualities, and the like. That which causes us to lose most of our time is the repugnance which we naturally have to labor. Dryden. Let the foes quietly cut their throats, Without repugnancy. Shak. Syn. -- Aversion; reluctance; unwillingness; dislike; antipathy; hatred; hostility; irreconcilableness; contrariety; inconsistency. See Dislike.

Difficulty: 16.91
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 13899 Using the temple complex as a base, the militants had launched punitive attacks against Hindus, and those they described as recalcitrant Sikhs, for many weeks.
Sen 26088 Indeed, Salman’s mafia clan found itself in the unique position of bribing the police—the same cops who’d just been paid off by pimps and pushers—to look away whenever they had to run a recalcitrant heroin dealer into a brick wall, or take a mash hammer to a pornographer’s hands.
266 pillion prev next
Definition
A panel or cushion saddle; the under pad or cushion of saddle; esp., a pad or cushion put on behind a man's saddle, on which a woman may ride. His [a soldier's] shank pillion without stirrups. Spenser.

Difficulty: 16.89
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 6128 Abdullah kicked the engine over, and I climbed up onto the pillion seat behind him.
Sen 24394 DIDIER LEVY was the worst pillion passenger I’ve ever known.
267 akela prev next

Difficulty: 16.89
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 24139 ‘Hum akela hain,’ I replied, returning his smile.
Sen 24142 ‘Akela …’ he repeated.
268 barfi prev next

Difficulty: 16.87
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 8777 He left the room, returned momentarily to place two bowls of ladoo and barfi sweets on the table, and then left us once more.
Sen 8995 He snatched a chunk of sweet barfi from the plate on the table, bit a piece of it, and munched happily.
269 staccato prev next
Definition
1. (Mus.) Disconnected; separated; distinct; -- a direction to perform the notes of a passage in a short, distinct, and pointed manner. It is opposed to legato, and often indicated by heavy accents written over or under the notes, or by dots when the performance is to be less distinct and emphatic. 2. Expressed in a brief, pointed manner. Staccato and peremptory [literary criticism]. G. Eliot. "emphatic": 1. Uttered with emphasis; made prominent and impressive by a peculiar stress of voice; laying stress; deserving of stress or emphasis; forcible; impressive; strong; as, to remonstrate in am emphatic manner; an emphatic word; an emphatic tone; emphatic reasoning. 2. Striking the sense; attracting special attention; impressive; forcible. "Emphatical colors." Boyle. "Emphatical evils." Bp. Reynolds. Syn. -- Forcible; earnest; impressive; energetic; striking; positive; important; special; significant. "legato": Connected; tied; -- a term used when successive tones are to be produced in a closely connected, smoothly gliding manner. It is often indicated by a tie, thus staccato. "peremptory": 1. Precluding debate or expostulation; not admitting of question or appeal; positive; absolute; decisive; conclusive; final. Think of heaven with hearty purposes and peremptory designs to get thither. Jer. Taylor. 2. Positive in opinion or judgment; decided; dictatorial; dogmatical. Be not too positive and peremptory. Bacon. Briefly, then, for we are peremptory. Shak. 3. Firmly determined; unawed. [Poetic] Shak. Peremptory challenge (Law) See under Challenge. -- Peremptory mandamus, a final and absolute mandamus. -- Peremptory plea, a plea by a defendant tending to impeach the plaintiff's right of action; a plea in bar. Syn. -- Decisive; positive; absolute; authoritative; express; arbitrary; dogmatical.

Difficulty: 16.86
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 17790 The signal changed and I kicked the bike into gear, twisting the throttle to send us into the intersection on the staccato throbbing of the engine’s growl.
Sen 21315 As the sound rose in its pitch and intensity, the two horses reared in the same instinct, and stamped their hooves in staccato fear.
270 febrile prev next
Definition
Pertaining to fever; indicating fever, or derived from it; as, febrile symptoms; febrile action. Dunglison.

Difficulty: 16.85
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 19076 Encouraged by that febrile curiosity, Cliff De Souza spun out yarns about the Bollywood stars, and Chandra Mehta added titillating ruffles of gossip throughout.
Sen 21403 ‘I’m worried,’ Khaled confessed, looking into my eyes with a febrile mix of heartbreak and fear.
271 comprehensible prev next
Definition
1. Capable of being comprehended, included, or comprised. Lest this part of knowledge should seem to any not comprehensible by axiom, we will set down some heads of it. Bacon. 2. Capable of being understood; intelligible; conceivable by the mind. The horizon sets the bounds . . . between what is and what is not comprehensible by us. Locke. "axiom": 1. (Logic & Math.) A self-evident and necessary truth, or a proposition whose truth is so evident as first sight that no reasoning or demonstration can make it plainer; a proposition which it is necessary to take for granted; as, "The whole is greater than a part;" "A thing can not, at the same time, be and not be." 2. An established principle in some art or science, which, though not a necessary truth, is universally received; as, the axioms of political economy. Syn. -- Axiom, Maxim, Aphorism, Adage. An axiom is a self-evident truth which is taken for granted as the basis of reasoning. A maxim is a guiding principle sanctioned by experience, and relating especially to the practical concerns of life. An aphorism is a short sentence pithily expressing some valuable and general truth or sentiment. An adage is a saying of long-established authority and of universal application. "intelligible": Capable of being understood or comprehended; as, an intelligible account or description; intelligible pronunciation, writing, etc. The intelligible forms of ancient poets. Coleridge. Syn. -- Comprehensible; perspicuous; plain; clear.

Difficulty: 16.83
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 134 What had seemed unimaginably strange and remote from my experience suddenly became possible, and comprehensible, and, finally, fascinating.
Sen 3267 When I understood that, a great many of the characteristically perplexing aspects of public life became comprehensible: from the acceptance of sprawling slums by city authorities, to the freedom that cows had to roam at random in the midst of traffic; from the toleration of beggars on the streets, to the concatenate complexity of the bureaucracies; and from the gorgeous, unashamed escapism of Bollywood movies, to the accommodation of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Tibet, Iran, Afghanistan, Africa, and Bangladesh, in a country that was already too crowded with sorrows and needs of its own.
272 tabletop prev next

Difficulty: 16.83
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1574 He paused, drumming the fingers of his right hand on the cold marble tabletop.
Sen 25324 Where the footpath was clogged with shoppers halting at the tabletop street stalls, we walked on the road with a slow, unceasing stream of traffic behind and beside us.
273 uppermost prev next
Definition
Highest in place, position, rank, power, or the like; upmost; supreme. Whatever faction happens to be uppermost. Swift. "upmost": Highest; topmost; uppermost. Spenser. Dryden.

Difficulty: 16.80
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7566 The uppermost floors hadn’t been concreted, but the framework of upright, transom, and truss girders was already in place and even there, thirty-five storeys into the sky, women worked beside the men.
Sen 15787 On the opposite long wall of the room, four tall windows looked upon the uppermost branches and cool, shading leaves of plane trees lining the street below.
274 malevolence prev next
Definition
The quality or state of being malevolent; evil disposition toward another; inclination to injure others; ill will. See Synonym of Malice. "synonym": One of two or more words (commonly words of the same language) which are equivalents of each other; one of two or more words which have very nearly the same signification, and therefore may often be used interchangeably. See under Synonymous. [Written also synonyme.] All languages tend to clear themselves of synonyms as intellectual culture advances, the superfluous words being taken up and appropriated by new shades and combinations of thought evolved in the progress of society. De Quincey. His name has thus become, throughout all civilized countries, a synonym for probity and philanthropy. Macaulay. In popular literary acceptation, and as employed in special dictionaries of such words, synonyms are words sufficiently alike in general signification to be liable to be confounded, but yet so different in special definition as to require to be distinguished. G. P. Marsh.

Difficulty: 16.80
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 10162 Lisa stirred her head from the pillows suddenly, her movements groggy, and glared at me with what seemed to be real malevolence.
Sen 11985 His face was a gargoyle mask of malevolence and hatred.
275 ponderous prev next
Definition
1. Very heavy; weighty; as, a ponderous shield; a ponderous load; the ponderous elephant. The sepulcher . . . Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws. Shak. 2. Important; momentous; forcible. "Your more ponderous and settled project." Shak. 3. Heavy; dull; wanting; lightless or spirit; as, a ponderous style; a ponderous joke. Ponderous spar (Min.), heavy spar, or barytes. See Barite. "barytes": Barium sulphate, generally called heavy spar or barite. See Barite. "barite": Native sulphate of barium, a mineral occurring in transparent, colorless, white to yellow crystals (generally tabular), also in granular form, and in compact massive forms resembling marble. It has a high specific gravity, and hence is often called heavy spar. It is a common mineral in metallic veins. "sepulcher": The place in which the dead body of a human being is interred, or a place set apart for that purpose; a grave; a tomb. The stony entrance of this sepulcher. Shak. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher. John xx. 1. A whited sepulcher. Fig.: Any person who is fair outwardly but unclean or vile within. See Matt. xxiii.27. To bury; to inter; to entomb; as, obscurely sepulchered. And so sepulchered in such pomp dost lie That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. Milton. "forcible": 1. Possessing force; characterized by force, efficiency, or energy; powerful; efficacious; impressive; influential. How forcible are right words! Job. vi. 2 Sweet smells are most forcible in dry substances, when broken. Bacon. But I have reasons strong and forcible. Shak. That punishment which hath been sometimes forcible to bridle sin. Hooker. He is at once elegant and sublime, forcible and ornamented. Lowth (Transl. ) 2. Violent; impetuous. Like mingled streams, more forcible when joined. Prior. 3. Using force against opposition or resistance; obtained by compulsion; effected by force; as, forcible entry or abduction. In embraces of King James . . . forcible and unjust. Swift. Forcible entry and detainer (Law), the entering upon and taking and withholding of land and tenements by actual force and violence, and with a strong hand, to the hindrance of the person having the right to enter. Syn. -- Violent; powerful; strong; energetic; mighty; potent; weighty; impressive; cogent; influential. "lightless": Destitute of light; dark. Shak. "weighty": 1. Having weight; heavy; ponderous; as, a weighty body. 2. Adapted to turn the balance in the mind, or to convince; important; forcible; serious; momentous. "For sundry weighty reasons." Shak. Let me have your advice in a weighty affair. Swift. 3. Rigorous; severe; afflictive. [R.] "Attend our weightier judgment." Shak. Syn. -- Heavy; ponderous; burdensome; onerous; forcible; momentous; efficacious; impressive; cogent. WEIL'S DISEASE Weil's disease. (Med.) An acute infectious febrile disease, resembling typhoid fever, with muscular pains, disturbance of the digestive organs, jaundice, etc.

Difficulty: 16.79
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3583 Responding to the violent blow, the ox gave a lurch forward, and then set off with ponderous, thudding slowness.
Sen 6417 When Abdullah finished speaking, there was a dense and ponderous silence.
276 ponderously prev next
Definition
In a ponderous manner.

Difficulty: 16.79
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 6963 The bear turned, ponderously slow, but then lashed out swiftly and swept a massive paw at the dogs.
Sen 19158 We hurtled through the ponderously slow traffic, riding on luck and instinct just as Abdullah might’ve done.
277 indefatigable prev next
Definition
Incapable of being fatigued; not readily exhausted; unremitting in labor or effort; untiring; unwearying; not yielding to fatigue; as, indefatigable exertions, perseverance, application. "A constant, indefatigable attendance." South. Upborne with indefatigable wings. Milton. Syn. -- Unwearied; untiring; persevering; persistent. "unremitting": Not remitting; incessant; continued; persevering; as, unremitting exertions. Cowper. -- Un`re*mit"ting*ly, adv. -- Un`re*mit"ting*ness, n. "unwearied": Not wearied; not fatigued or tired; hence, persistent; not tiring or wearying; indefatigable. -- Un*wea"ried*ly, adv. -- Un*wea"ried*ness, n. "persevering": Characterized by perseverance; persistent. -- Per`se*ver"ing*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.74
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 229 The impression was of a plodding, indefatigable, and distant past that had crashed intact, through barriers of time, into its own future.
Sen 3186 Astonished, and not a little ashamed, I clung to the porter as he hammered his way into the carriage with his indefatigable and irresistible knees.
278 clumsily prev next
Definition
In a clumsy manner; awkwardly; as, to walk clumsily.

Difficulty: 16.74
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4292 I tried to stand near him and protect him with my legs, but I tripped and fell clumsily.
Sen 10166 She pulled the silk jacket open until she was quite naked, touching at her breasts clumsily.
279 contorted prev next
Definition
1. Twisted, or twisted together. "A contorted chain of icicles." Massinger. 2. (Bot.) (a) Twisted back upon itself, as some parts of plants. (b) Arranged so as to overlap each other; as, petals in contorted or convolute æstivation. "convolute": Rolled or wound together, one part upon another; -- said of the leaves of plants in æstivation.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3727 A desperate expression contorted his normally happy features.
Sen 9556 I turned to ask him a question, and found that he was crying, his face contorted with miserable sobbing.
280 threadbare prev next
Definition
1. Worn to the naked thread; having the nap worn off; threadbare clothes. "A threadbare cope." Chaucer. 2. Fig.: Worn out; as, a threadbare subject; stale topics and threadbare quotations. Swift.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4223 A thick dribble of coconut oil gathered before her fingers, and dripped from the end of the plait onto the threadbare carpet.
Sen 7336 As my gaze followed hers, I saw my little house for the shabby, threadbare hovel that it really was.
281 drawl prev next
Definition
To utter in a slow, lengthened tone. To speak with slow and lingering utterance, from laziness, lack of spirit, affectation, etc. Theologians and moralists . . . talk mostly in a drawling and dreaming way about it. Landor. A lengthened, slow monotonous utterance. "affectation": 1. An attempt to assume or exhibit what is not natural or real; false display; artificial show. "An affectation of contempt." Macaulay. Affectation is an awkward and forced imitation of what should be genuine and easy, wanting the beauty that accompanies what is natural what is natural. Locke. 2. A striving after. [Obs.] Bp. Pearson. 3. Fondness; affection. [Obs.] Hooker. "utterance": 1. The act of uttering. Specifically: -- (a) Sale by offering to the public. [Obs.] Bacon. (b) Putting in circulation; as, the utterance of false coin, or of forged notes. (c) Vocal expression; articulation; speech. At length gave utterance to these words. Milton. 2. Power or style of speaking; as, a good utterance. They . . . began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts ii. 4. O, how unlike To that large utterance of the early gods! Keats. The last extremity; the end; death; outrance. [Obs.] Annibal forced those captives whom he had taken of our men to skirmish one against another to the utterance. Holland. "drawling": The act of speaking with a drawl; a drawl. -- Drawl"ing*ly, adv. Bacon.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7665 ‘Nobody knows who he is, Lin,’ Kishore said, his American-accented English, learned from tourists, flowing in a liquid drawl.
Sen 27500 ‘Chuha and his buddies,’ Amir answered in his lazy drawl.
282 overstayer prev next
Definition  (overstay)
To stay beyond the time or the limits of; as, to overstay the appointed time. Bp. Hall.

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4402 Moreover, I was already an overstayer on my visa, and technically guilty of a criminal offence.
Sen 28237 He’s an overstayer.
283 hilarity prev next
Definition
Boisterous mirth; merriment; jollity. Goldsmith. Note: Hilarity differs from joy: the latter, excited by good news or prosperity, is an affection of the mind; the former, produced by social pleasure, drinking, etc., which rouse the animal spirits, is more demonstrative. Syn. -- Glee; cheerfulness; mirth; merriment; gayety; joyousness; exhilaration; joviality; jollity. "joviality": The quality or state of being jovial. Sir T. Herbert. "exhilaration": 1. The act of enlivening the spirits; the act of making glad or cheerful; a gladdening. 2. The state of being enlivened or cheerful. Exhilaration hath some affinity with joy, though it be a much lighter motion. Bacon. Syn. -- Animation; joyousness; gladness; cheerfulness; gayety; hilarity; merriment; jollity. "demonstrative": 1. Having the nature of demonstration; tending to demonstrate; making evident; exhibiting clearly or conclusively. "Demonstrative figures." Dryden. An argument necessary and demonstrative. Hooker. 2. Expressing, or apt to express, much; displaying feeling or sentiment; as, her nature was demonstrative. 3. Consisting of eulogy or of invective. "Demonstrative eloquence." Blair. Demonstrative pronoun (Gram.), a pronoun distinctly designating that to which it refers. A demonstrative pronoun; as, "this" and "that" are demonstratives. "gayety": 1. The state of being gay; merriment; mirth; acts or entertainments prompted by, or inspiring, merry delight; -- used often in the plural; as, the gayeties of the season. 2. Finery; show; as, the gayety of dress. Syn. -- Liveliness; mirth; animation; vivacity; glee; blithesomeness; sprightliness; jollity. See Liveliness. "jollity": Noisy mirth; gayety; merriment; festivity; boisterous enjoyment. Chaucer. All now was turned to jollity and game. Milton. He with a proud jollity commanded him to leave that quarrel only for him, who was only worthy to enter into it. Sir P. Sidney. Syn. -- Merriment; mirth; gayety; festivity; hilarity. "cheerfulness": Good spirits; a state of moderate joy or gayety; alacrity.

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 11047 We laughed again, and Prabaker slapped at his thigh, hooting with such hilarity that every head turned toward him.
Sen 12537 That might’ve gone on indefinitely, judging by the hilarity it provoked in the gallery of surrounding guards, but I refused to play.
284 thumbnails prev next

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 12818 You just squeeze the little fucks between your thumbnails, like this.’
Sen 12821 There were scores of the lice, and he squashed each one expertly between his thumbnails.
285 goeth prev next

Difficulty: 16.68
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 21266 The saying, pride goeth … before a fall … is condensed from the second collection of the Book of Proverbs, 16:18—Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Sen 21266 The saying, pride goeth … before a fall … is condensed from the second collection of the Book of Proverbs, 16:18—Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
286 punctuated prev next
Definition  (punctuate)
To mark with points; to separate into sentences, clauses, etc., by points or stops which mark the proper pauses in expressing the meaning.

Difficulty: 16.66
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3607 The rhythm of those heavy blows was punctuated by sharp jabs at the animal’s flanks with the nail attached to the end of the stick.
Sen 15286 In exchange, the Bullet provided the kind of soaring, celestial, wind-weaving pleasure that birds must know, punctuated by not infrequent near-death experiences.
287 reddening prev next
Definition  (redden)
To make red or somewhat red; to give a red color to. To grow or become red; to blush. Appius reddens at each word you speak. Pope. He no sooner saw that her eye glistened and her cheek reddened than his obstinacy was at once subbued. Sir W. SCott.

Difficulty: 16.64
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1152 I felt myself reddening slightly, not from embarrassment, but from shame, that she’d said so easily the very words, I like you, that I wouldn’t let myself say to her.
Sen 18535 ‘He’s well,’ I replied, reddening a little with shame that I didn’t see the good and noble head man as often as I used to, when I’d lived in the slum.
288 armrest prev next

Difficulty: 16.64
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3199 His feet were wrapped around the aisle armrest.
Sen 3200 His hands clasped the armrest at the window end.
289 subtractions prev next
Definition  (subtraction)
1. The act or operation of subtracting or taking away a part. 2. (Math.) The taking of a lesser number or quantity from a greater of the same kind or denomination; an operation for finding the difference between two numbers or quantities. 3. (Law) The withdrawing or withholding from a person of some right to which he is entitled by law. Note: Thus the subtraction of conjugal rights is when either the husband or wife withdraws from the other and lives separate without sufficient reason. The subtraction of a legacy is the withholding or detailing of it from the legatee by the executor. In like manner, the withholding of any service, rent, duty, or custom, is a subtraction, for which the law gives a remedy. Blackstone. "legatee": One to whom a legacy is bequeathed.

Difficulty: 16.63
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7193 With subtractions for the space taken up by animal pens, shops, storage areas, streets, lanes, and latrines, that allowed some two square metres for each man, woman, and child among us.
Sen 15496 While seemingly immune to decay, the saint’s body had suffered various amputations and subtractions over the centuries.
290 piteously prev next
Definition  (piteous)
1. Pious; devout. [Obs.] The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation. Wyclif. 2. Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate; tender. "[She] piteous of his case." Pope. She was so charitable and so pitous. Chaucer. 3. Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable; lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case. Spenser. The most piteous tale of Lear. Shak. 4. Paltry; mean; pitiful. "Piteous amends." Milton. Syn. -- Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful; sad; wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful; compassionate. -- Pit"e*ous*ly, adv. -- Pit"e*ous*ness, n. "rueful": 1. Causing one to rue or lament; woeful; mournful; sorrowful. 2. Expressing sorrow. "Rueful faces." Dryden. Two rueful figures, with long black cloaks. Sir W. Scott. -- Rue"ful*ly, adv. -- Rue"ful*ness, n. "doleful": Full of dole or grief; expressing or exciting sorrow; sorrowful; sad; dismal. With screwed face and doleful whine. South. Regions of sorrow, doleful shades. Milton. Syn. -- Piteous; rueful; sorrowful; woeful; melancholy; sad gloomy; dismal; dolorous; woe-begone. - Dole"ful*ly, adv. -- Dole"ful*ness, n. "pitiable": Deserving pity; wworthy of, or exciting, compassion; miserable; lamentable; piteous; as, pitiable persons; a pitiable condition; pitiable wretchedness. Syn. -- Sorrowful; woeful; sad. See Piteous. -- Pit"i*a*ble*ness, n. -- Pit"i*a*bly, adv. "lamentable": 1. Mourning; sorrowful; expressing grief; as, a lamentable countenance. "Lamentable eye." Spenser. 2. Fitted to awaken lament; to be lamented; sorrowful; pitiable; as, a lamentable misfortune, or error. "Lamentable helplessness." Burke. 3. Miserable; pitiful; paltry; -- in a contemptuous or Bp. Stillingfleet. -- Lam"en*ta*ble*ness, n. -- Lam"en*ta*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.61
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1985 His piteously thin mantis-legs were folded and tucked beneath him on the platform, which was a piece of wood no bigger than a folded newspaper.
Sen 11771 The procession of children that ran with us behind the biers carrying those little bodies, garlanded with flowers, wailed their grief so piteously that many strangers on the busy streets paused in prayer, and felt the sudden burn and sting of tears.
291 sinewed prev next
Definition
1. Furnished with sinews; as, a strong-sinewed youth. 2. Fig.: Equipped; strengthened. When he sees Ourselves well sinewed to our defense. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.61
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 20959 In the lengthening silence I looked at the lean, sinewed face and I controlled even the sound of my breathing, lest it disturb him.
Sen 23649 But it wasn’t Habib’s knife that we stared at, jutting out of the muddy, sinewed throat like a branch from a riverbed.
292 undulating prev next
Definition
Rising and falling like waves; resembling wave form or motion; undulatory; rolling; wavy; as, an undulating medium; undulating ground. -- Un"du*la`ting*ly. adv. "undulatory": Moving in the manner of undulations, or waves; resembling the motion of waves, which successively rise or swell rise or swell and fall; pertaining to a propagated alternating motion, similar to that of waves. Undulatory theory, or Wave theory (of light) (Opt.), that theory which regards its various phenomena as due to undulations in an ethereal medium, propagated from the radiant with immense, but measurable, velocities, and producing different impressions on the retina according to their amplitude and frequency, the sensation of brightness depending on the former, that of color on the latter. The undulations are supposed to take place, not in the direction of propagation, as in the air waves constituting sound, but transversely, and the various phenomena of refraction, polarization, interference, etc., are attributable to the different affections of these undulations in different circumstances of propagation. It is computed that the frequency of the undulations corresponding to the several colors of the spectrum ranges from 458 millions of millions per second for the extreme red ray, to 727 millions of millions for the extreme violet, and their lengths for the same colors, from the thirty-eight thousandth to the sixty thousandth part of an inch. The theory of ethereal undulations is applicable not only to the phenomena of light, but also to those of heat.

Difficulty: 16.61
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 21300 What had seemed to be smooth walls of bare, mountainous rock proved on closer inspection to be formed in undulating waves of ravines and tiered crevices.
Sen 21470 The impact of those tender, viridescent carpets between the endlessly undulating crocodile’s back of naked stone mountains was far greater than it might’ve been in a more fertile and equable landscape.
293 mesmerised prev next

Difficulty: 16.59
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 8440 I was mesmerised by it, bewildered, and strangely ashamed.
Sen 24043 So mesmerised were they by his savage hatred, and so obsessed were they with his capture, that they failed to detect the stealthy advance of Ahmed Shah Massoud’s forces.
294 adherence prev next
Definition
1. The quality or state of adhering. 2. The state of being fixed in attachment; fidelity; steady attachment; adhesion; as, adherence to a party or to opinions. Syn. -- Adherence, Adhesion. These words, which were once freely interchanged, are now almost entirely separated. Adherence is no longer used to denote physical union, but is applied, to mental states or habits; as, a strict adherence to one's duty; close adherence to the argument, etc. Adhesion is now confined chiefly to the physical sense, except in the phrase "To give in one's adhesion to a cause or a party." "denote": 1. To mark out plainly; to signify by a visible sign; to serve as the sign or name of; to indicate; to point out; as, the hands of the clock denote the hour. The better to denote her to the doctor. Shak. 2. To be the sign of; to betoken; to signify; to mean. A general expression to denote wickedness of every sort. Gilpin. "adhesion": 1. The action of sticking; the state of being attached; intimate union; as the adhesion of glue, or of parts united by growth, cement, or the like. 2. Adherence; steady or firm attachment; fidelity; as, to error, to a policy. His adhesion to the Tories was bounded by his approbation of their foreign policy. De Quincey. 3. Agreement to adhere; concurrence; assent. To that treaty Spain and England gave in their adhesion. Macaulay. 4. (Physics) The molecular attraction exerted between bodies in contact. See Cohesion. 5. (Med.) Union of surface, normally separate, by the formation of new tissue resulting from an inflammatory process. 6. (Bot.) The union of parts which are separate in other plants, or in younger states of the same plant. Syn. -- Adherence; union. See Adherence.

Difficulty: 16.59
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 22853 When Nazeer was sufficiently recovered, he insisted on burying Abdel Khader Khan with the strictest adherence to ritual.
Sen 23281 They prayed every day, but not in strict adherence to the timetable of three sessions, ordained by Shia Islam, or the five sessions of the Sunni Muslims.
295 candour prev next

Difficulty: 16.58
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3855 When I learned to speak her language well enough, she told me with disarming candour how disappointed she’d been when she’d scrutinised Kishan for the first time.
Sen 20558 We shook hands, sizing one another up with equal candour and affability.
296 gnarled prev next
Definition
Knotty; full of knots or gnarls; twisted; crossgrained. The unwedgeable and gnarléd oak. Shak. "crossgrained": 1. Having the grain or fibers run diagonally, or more or less transversely an irregularly, so as to interfere with splitting or planing. If the stuff proves crossgrained, . . . then you must turn your stuff to plane it the contrary way. Moxon. 2. Perverse; untractable; contrary. She was none of your crossgrained, termagant, scolding jades. Arbuthnot. "unwedgeable": Not to be split with wedges. [Obs.] Shak. "knotty": 1. Full of knots; knotted; having many knots; as, knotty timber; a knotty rope. 2. Hard; rugged; as, a knotty head.[R.] Rewe. 3. Difficult; intricate; perplexed. A knotty point to which we now proceed Pope.

Difficulty: 16.56
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2396 They were huge hands, gnarled and calloused enough to scrape the barnacles off the side of a dry-docked oil tanker.
Sen 5911 With a curt but respectful nod to Khader, he began to mull tobacco and hashish in his gnarled hands.
297 wince prev next
Definition
1. To shrink, as from a blow, or from pain; to flinch; to start back. I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word. Shak. 2. To kick or flounce when unsteady, or impatient at a rider; as, a horse winces. The act of one who winces. A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or washing cloth; a winch. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment. at will. Wince pit, Wince pot, a tank or a pit where cloth in the process of dyeing or manufacture is washed, dipped in a mordant, or the like. "flounce": To throw the limbs and body one way and the other; to spring, turn, or twist with sudden effort or violence; to struggle, as a horse in mire; to flounder; to throw one's self with a jerk or spasm, often as in displeasure. To flutter and flounce will do nothing but batter and bruise us. Barrow. With his broad fins and forky tail he laves The rising sirge, and flounces in the waves. Addison. The act of floucing; a sudden, jerking motion of the body. An ornamental appendage to the skirt of a woman's dress, consisting of a strip gathered and sewed on by its upper edge around the skirt, and left hanging. To deck with a flounce or flounces; as, to flounce a petticoat or a frock. "mordant": 1. Biting; caustic; sarcastic; keen; severe. 2. (Dyeing & Calico Printing) Serving to fix colors. 1. Any corroding substance used in etching. 2. (Dyeing & Calico Printing) Any substance, as alum or copperas, which, having a twofold attraction for organic fibers and coloring matter, serves as a bond of union, and thus gives fixity to, or bites in, the dyes. 3. (Gilding) Any sticky matter by which the gold leaf is made to adhere. To subject to the action of, or imbue with, a mordant; as, to mordant goods for dyeing.

Difficulty: 16.54
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 19834 I saw Gupta-ji’s lips pout and his eyes squint in a wince, and then his face exploded in a shower of sparks that left the world darker than a cave full of sleeping bats.
Sen 27399 I felt the wince of guilt that litter-conscious westerners invariably experience, and reminded myself that the mess on the road would be collected by rag-pickers who depended on the litter for their livelihood.
298 disfigurements prev next
Definition  (disfigurement)
1. Act of disfiguring, or state of being disfigured; deformity. Milton. 2. That which disfigures; a defacement; a blot. Uncommon expressions . . . are a disfigurement rather than any embellishment of discourse. Hume. "defacement": 1. The act of defacing, or the condition of being defaced; injury to the surface or exterior; obliteration. 2. That which mars or disfigures. Bacon. "embellishment": 1. The act of adorning, or the state of being adorned; adornment. In the selection of their ground, as well as in the embellishment of it. Prescott. 2. That which adds beauty or elegance; ornament; decoration; as, pictorial embellishments. The graces and embellishments of the exterior man. I. Taylor.

Difficulty: 16.54
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 6305 I don’t know why—the price, perhaps, that women pay for their loveliness—but the disfigurements seemed more ghastly for the women than they were for the men.
Sen 22830 In some ways, he resembled Ranjit’s lepers, but his wounds were so raw and bloody, and the teeth were so smashed, that Ranjit’s disfigurements seemed benign in comparison.
299 prow prev next
Definition
The fore part of a vessel; the bow; the stem; hence, the vessel itself. Wordsworth. The floating vessel swum Uplifted, and secure with beaked prow rode tilting o'er the waves. Milton. See Proa. Valiant; brave; gallant; courageous. [Archaic] Tennyson. The prowest knight that ever field did fight. Spenser. Benefit; profit; good; advantage. [Obs.] That shall be for your hele and for your prow. Chaucer. "proa": A sailing canoe of the Ladrone Islands and Malay Archipelago, having its lee side flat and its weather side like that of an ordinary boat. The ends are alike. The canoe is long and narrow, and is kept from overturning by a cigar-shaped log attached to a frame extending several feet to windward. It has been called the flying proa, and is the swiftest sailing craft known. "beaked": 1. Having a beak or a beaklike point; beak-shaped. "Each beaked promontory." Milton. 2. (Biol.) Furnished with a process or a mouth like a beak; rostrate. Beaked whale (Zoöl.), a cetacean of the genus Hyperoodon; the bottlehead whale. "swum": imp. & p. p. of Swim. "hele": Health; welfare. [Obs.] "In joy and perfyt hele." Chaucer. To hide; to cover; to roof. [Obs.] Hide and hele things. Chaucer.

Difficulty: 16.51
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 25453 Amir was a scarred, blunt-headed man with thick, tangled eyebrows and a moustache that rode the cresting wave of his full upper lip like the wide prow of a Kashmiri houseboat.
Sen 28090 Only the prow and a few metres of the long boat’s gunnels protruded from the surrounding waves of sand.
300 flatbreads prev next

Difficulty: 16.50
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3789 After the shower, and a delicious meal of dhal, rice, and homemade flatbreads, Prabaker and I watched as his parents and his two sisters opened their presents.
Sen 3981 The roti, or unleavened flatbreads, were made fresh for each breakfast, and cooked in a lightly oiled wok on an open fire.
301 wintry prev next
Definition
Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. Touch our chilled hearts with vernal smile, Our wintry course do thou beguile. Keble. "vernal": 1. Of or pertaining to the spring; appearing in the spring; as, vernal bloom. 2. Fig.: Belonging to youth, the spring of life. When after the long vernal day of life. Thomson. And seems it hard thy vernal years Few vernal joys can show Keble. Vernal equinox (Astron.), the time when the sun crosses the equator when proceeding northward. -- Vernal grass (Bot.), a low, soft grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), producing in the spring narrow spikelike panicles, and noted for the delicious fragrance which it gives to new-mown hay; -- also called sweet vernal grass. See Illust. in Appendix. -- Vernal signs (Astron.), the signs, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini, in which the sun appears between the vernal equinox and summer solstice. "hyemal": Belonging to winter; done in winter. Sir T. Browne. "brumal": Of or pertaining to winter. "The brumal solstice." Sir T. Browne. "wintery": Wintry. "beguile": 1. To delude by guile, artifice, or craft; to deceive or impose on, as by a false statement; to lure. The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Gen. iii. 13. 2. To elude, or evade by craft; to foil. [Obs.] When misery could beguile the tyrant's rage. Shak. 3. To cause the time of to pass without notice; to relieve the tedium or weariness of; to while away; to divert. Ballads . . . to beguile his incessant wayfaring. W. Irving. Syn. -- To delude; deceive; cheat; insnare; mislead; amuse; divert; entertain.

Difficulty: 16.50
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 21466 The steep mountain slopes of the country were barren, burned of life by biting wintry winds, but every flat plain, no matter how small, was a vivid, living green.
Sen 22174 There were dark, thick clouds massed to the east of us, and the cold air was damp with the rain and snow they would bring, but for the moment we could see all the way to the end of the world, and our wintry eyes were drowning in the beauty of it.
302 broiling prev next
Definition
Excessively hot; as, a broiling sun. -- n. The act of causing anything to broil.

Difficulty: 16.46
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3142 From the broiling tangle of bodies, one man emerged and walked towards us.
Sen 5408 I allowed my life to be swept up in the broiling, dancing struggle of their twenty-five thousand lives.
303 scepticism prev next
Definition
etc. See Skeptic, Skeptical, Skepticism, etc.

Difficulty: 16.46
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7708 The women reacted with shocked scepticism, chattering amongst themselves.
Sen 28458 Although I’d tried to hide it, I knew she’d picked up the scepticism barbed with righteous censure in my tone.
304 meandering prev next
Definition  (meander)
1. A winding, crooked, or involved course; as, the meanders of the veins and arteries. Sir M. Hale. While lingering rivers in meanders glide. Sir R. Blackmore. 2. A tortuous or intricate movement. 3. (Arch.) Fretwork. See Fret. To wind, turn, or twist; to make flexuous. Dryton. To wind or turn in a course or passage; to be intricate. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion Through wood and dale the sacred river ran. Coleridge. "mazy": Perplexed with turns and windings; winding; intricate; confusing; perplexing; embarrassing; as, mazy error. Milton. To range amid the mazy thicket. Spenser. To run the ring, and trace the mazy round. Dryden. "fretwork": Work adorned with frets; ornamental openwork or work in relief, esp. when elaborate and minute in its parts. Heuce, any minute play of light andshade, dark and light, or the like. Banqueting on the turf in the fretwork of shade and sunshine. Macaulay. "flexuous": 1. Having turns, windings, or flexures. 2. (Bot.) Having alternate curvatures in opposite directions; bent in a zigzag manner. 3. Wavering; not steady; flickering. Bacon. "tortuous": 1. Bent in different directions; wreathed; twisted; winding; as, a tortuous train; a tortuous train; a tortuous leaf or corolla. The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick. Macaulay. 2. Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect; erroneous; deceitful. That course became somewhat lesstortuous, when the battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the Jakobites. Macaulay. 3. Injurious: tortious. [Obs.] 4. (Astrol.) Oblique; -- applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most rapidly and obliquely. [Obs.] Skeat. Infortunate ascendent tortuous. Chaucer. --Tor"tu*ous*ly, adv. -- Tor"tu*ous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.45
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 15016 He kicked the bike into gear, and roared off into the meandering traffic.
Sen 26782 So I moved between the frantic flow of cars, bikes, buses, trucks, and push-carts, and the meandering progress of tourists and shoppers, and let my thoughts drift into the heat and the street.
305 enthused prev next
Definition  (enthuse)
To make or become enthusiastic. [Slang]

Difficulty: 16.44
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 875 ‘Oh, yes!’ Prabaker enthused.
Sen 14657 He was enjoying himself in the discussion, and I realised that I’d never seen him quite so animated or enthused.
306 chor prev next

Difficulty: 16.40
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 10739 I loved those kilometres from Chor bazaar, past Crawford Market, V.T.
Sen 12349 Their room was known as the chor mahal, the abode of thieves, and the men were known as the black hats, the kala topis—like Ranjit’s lepers—because convicted thieves at the infamous Arthur Road Prison were forced to wear a black hat with their prison uniform.
307 finality prev next
Definition
1. The state of being final, finished, or complete; a final or conclusive arrangement; a settlement. Baxter. 2. The relation of end or purpose to its means. Janet.

Difficulty: 16.40
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1170 ‘They’re wrong,’ she said with terse finality.
Sen 8109 I did want to know, but she turned her face away to stare out the window, and there was a finality in the gesture that warned and prohibited.
308 inflection prev next
Definition
1. The act of inflecting, or the state of being inflected. 2. A bend; a fold; a curve; a turn; a twist. 3. A slide, modulation, or accent of the voice; as, the rising and the falling inflection. 4. (Gram.) The variation or change which words undergo to mark case, gender, number, comparison, tense, person, mood, voice, etc. 5. (Mus.) (a) Any change or modification in the pitch or tone of the voice. (b) A departure from the monotone, or reciting note, in chanting. 6. (Opt.) Same as Diffraction. Point of inflection (Geom.), the point on opposite sides of which a curve bends in contrary ways. "inflected": 1. Bent; turned; deflected. 2. (Gram.) Having inflections; capable of, or subject to, inflection; inflective. Inflected cycloid (Geom.), a prolate cycloid. See Cycloid. "diffraction": The deflection and decomposition of light in passing by the edges of opaque bodies or through narrow slits, causing the appearance of parallel bands or fringes of prismatic colors, as by the action of a grating of fine lines or bars. Remarked by Grimaldi (1665), and referred by him to a property of light which he called diffraction. Whewell. Diffraction grating. (Optics) See under Grating. -- Diffraction spectrum. (Optics) See under Spectrum. "modulation": 1. The act of modulating, or the state of being modulated; as, the modulation of the voice. 2. Sound modulated; melody. [R.] Thomson. 3. (Mus.) A change of key, whether transient, or until the music becomes established in the new key; a shifting of the tonality of a piece, so that the harmonies all center upon a new keynote or tonic; the art of transition out of the original key into one nearly related, and so on, it may be, by successive changes, into a key quite remote. There are also sudden and unprepared modulations. "monotone": 1. (Mus.) A single unvaried tone or sound. 2. (Rhet.) The utterance of successive syllables, words, or sentences, on one unvaried key or line of pitch.

Difficulty: 16.39
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 26901 ‘And it’s a pleasure to meet you,’ he countered, with the well-rounded and musical inflection of Bombay’s best private schools and universities: my favourite accent in all the beautiful ways to speak the English language.
Sen 26905 In that context and with that inflection it meant Oh, yeah?
309 profiteers prev next

Difficulty: 16.38
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 17474 The city was full of mercenaries, fugitives, criminals, black-market profiteers, and wild-eyed, bare-knuckled opportunists from all over Africa.
Sen 20476 But with a little luck and skilful connivance, the profiteers hoped, the army might remain in control of the country—and the well-established channels of corruption—for some years yet.
310 derision prev next
Definition
1. The act of deriding, or the state of being derided; mockery; scornful or contemptuous treatment which holds one up to ridicule. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. Ps. ii. 4. Saderision called. Milton. 2. An object of derision or scorn; a laughing-stock. I was a derision to all my people. Lam. iii. 14. Syn. -- Scorn; mockery; contempt; insult; ridicule. "contemptuous": Manifecting or expressing contempt or disdain; scornful; haughty; insolent; disdainful. A proud, contemptious behavior. Hammond. Savage invectiveand contemptuous sarcasm. Macaulay. Rome . . . entertained the most contemptuous opinion of the Jews. Atterbury. Syn. -- Scornful; insolent; haughty; disdainful; supercilious; insulting; contumelious. -- Contemptuous, Contemptible. These words, from their similarity of sound, are sometimes erroneously interchanged, as when a person speaks of having "a very contemptible opinion of another." Contemptible is applied to that which is the object of contempt; as, contemptible conduct; acontemptible fellow. Contemptuous is applied to that which indicates contempts; as, a contemptuous look; a contemptuous remark; contemptuous treatment. A person, or whatever is personal, as an action, an expression, a feeling, an opinion, may be either contemptuous or contemptible; a thing may be contemptible, but can not be contemptuous. "scornful": 1. Full of scorn or contempt; contemptuous; disdainful. Scornful of winter's frost and summer's sun. Prior. Dart not scornful glances from those eyes. Shak. 2. Treated with scorn; exciting scorn. [Obs.] The scornful mark of every open eye. Shak. Syn. -- Contemptuous; disdainful; contumelious; reproachful; insolent. -- Scorn"ful*ly, adv. -- Scorn"ful*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.35
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2741 ‘Well, how was I to know that she would want to wear it outside the apartment?’ he countered lamely, provoking laughter and derision from the whole group.
Sen 3210 It was fully equal, his glaring eyes left no doubt, to the derision he felt for me.
311 constricted prev next
Definition
1. Drawn together; bound; contracted; cramped. 2. (Bot.) Contracted or compressed so as to be smaller in certain places or parts than in others.

Difficulty: 16.34
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2297 The buildings were cracked and smeared, the constricted passage-ways were crowded with goats, chickens, dogs, and people, and each thin face showed the shade and hollows of penury, but the streets and the people were stainlessly, scrupulously clean.
Sen 3301 And I learned more, during those fourteen constricted and largely silent hours in the crowded economy-class section, communicating without language, than I could’ve learned in a month of travelling first class.
312 bluestone prev next
Definition
1. Blue vitriol. Dunglison. 2. A grayish blue building stone, as that commonly used in the eastern United States. "vitriol": (a) A sulphate of any one of certain metals, as copper, iron, zinc, cobalt. So called on account of the glassy appearance or luster. (b) Sulphuric acid; -- called also oil of vitriol. So called because first made by the distillation of green vitriol. See Sulphuric acid, under Sulphuric. [Colloq.] Blue vitriol. See under Blue. -- Green vitriol, ferrous sulphate; copperas. See under Green. -- Oil of vitriol, sulphuric or vitriolic acid; -- popularly so called because it has the consistency of oil. -- Red vitriol, a native sulphate of cobalt. -- Vitriol of Mars, ferric sulphate, a white crystalline substance which dissolves in water, forming a red solution. -- White vitriol, zinc sulphate, a white crystalline substance used in medicine and in dyeing. It is usually obtained by dissolving zinc in sulphuric acid, or by roasting and oxidizing certain zinc ores. Formerly called also vitriol of zinc. "grayish": Somewhat gray.

Difficulty: 16.34
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 5307 I clambered over the bluestone parapet, and took hold of the cord.
Sen 11952 The hotel was built upon a tall platform of bluestone and granite blocks, with ten marble steps leading up to each wide entrance.
313 centimetre prev next
Definition
The hundredth part of a meter; a measure of length equal to rather more than thirty-nine hundredths (0.3937) of an inch. See Meter.

Difficulty: 16.34
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3272 Every available centimetre of seating space was occupied, even to the sturdy metal luggage racks over our heads.
Sen 10864 I glanced at his torn, bloody shirt, and at the cuts and bruises that were swelling on his face and every exposed centimetre of flesh.
314 duplication prev next
Definition
1. The act of duplicating, or the state of being duplicated; a doubling; a folding over; a fold. 2. (Biol.) The act or process of dividing by natural growth or spontaneous action; as, the duplication of cartilage cells. Carpenter. Duplication of the cube (Math.), the operation of finding a cube having a volume which is double that of a given cube.

Difficulty: 16.33
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1362 For many, the duplication of their own images in two or more mirrors at the same time was not least among the pleasures of the pastime.
Sen 20637 Side streets and lateral avenues revealed that the duplication of those crude, resemblant structures extended all the way to the horizon of sight, on either side of the main road.
315 exhilarated prev next
Definition  (exhilarate)
To make merry or jolly; to enliven; to animate; to gladden greatly; to cheer; as, good news exhilarates the mind; wine exhilarates a man. To become joyous. [R.] Bacon. "enliven": 1. To give life, action, or motion to; to make vigorous or active; to excite; to quicken; as, fresh fuel enlivens a fire. Lo! of themselves th' enlivened chessmen move. Cowley. 2. To give spirit or vivacity to; to make sprightly, gay, or cheerful; to animate; as, mirth and good humor enliven a company; enlivening strains of music. Syn. -- To animate; rouse; inspire; cheer; encourage; comfort; exhilarate; inspirit; invigorate. "gladden": To make glad; to cheer; to please; to gratify; to rejoice; to exhilarate. A secret pleasure gladdened all that saw him. Addison. To be or become glad; to rejoice. The vast Pacific gladdens with the freight. Wordsworth.

Difficulty: 16.32
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3920 Exhilarated and afraid, they were at the point of striking when they realised that the men were allies.
Sen 4584 She was exhilarated, and perhaps a little unnerved.
316 sunburst prev next
Definition
A burst of sunlight.

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1373 Its intricate tile-work replicated the pattern used in a north Indian palace, with hexagons in black, cream, and brown radiating from a central sunburst.
Sen 21819 There was a sunburst of gold around the pupils of his eyes that seemed to pulse and whirl.
317 immensity prev next
Definition
The state or quality of being immense; inlimited or immeasurable extension; infinity; vastness in extent or bulk; greatness. Lost in the wilds of vast immensity. Blackmore. The immensity of the material system. I. Taylor.

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 117 I began to look beyond the immensity of the slum societies, and to see the people who lived within them.
Sen 7557 We’d reached the perimeter of the legal slum, and the megalithic immensity of the twin skyscrapers loomed before us.
318 inexorable prev next
Definition
Not to be persuaded or moved by entreaty or prayer; firm; determined; unyielding; unchangeable; inflexible; relentless; as, an inexorable prince or tyrant; an inexorable judge. "Inexorable equality of laws." Gibbon. "Death's inexorable doom." Dryden. You are more inhuman, more inexorable, O, ten times more than tigers of Hyrcania. Shak. "entreaty": 1. Treatment; reception; entertainment. [Obs.] B. Jonson. 2. The act of entreating or beseeching; urgent prayer; earnest petition; pressing solicitation. Fair entreaty, and sweet blandishment. Spenser. Syn. -- Solicitation; request; suit; supplication; importunity.

Difficulty: 16.28
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4821 Stunned, afraid, but not in panic, I watched the inexorable advance of the inferno, and decided that the cause was lost.
Sen 25385 Somehow, Salman’s casual remark that we all blamed ourselves for not being with Khader when he died had shaken my frozen sorrowing free, and the slow, inexorable snowslip of its heartache began, right there and then.
319 writhe prev next
Definition
1. To twist; to turn; now, usually, to twist or turn so as to distort; to wring. "With writhing [turning] of a pin." Chaucer. Then Satan first knew pain, And writhed him to and fro. Milton. Her mouth she writhed, her forehead taught to frown. Dryden. His battle-writhen arms, and mighty hands. Tennyson. 2. To wrest; to distort; to pervert. The reason which he yieldeth showeth the least part of his meaning to be that whereunto his words are writhed. Hooker. 3. To extort; to wring; to wrest. [R.] The nobility hesitated not to follow the example of their sovereign in writhing money from them by every species of oppression. Sir W. Scott. To twist or contort the body; to be distorted; as, to writhe with agony. Also used figuratively. After every attempt, he felt that he had failed, and writhed with shame and vexation. Macaulay. "contort": To twist, or twist together; to turn awry; to bend; to distort; to wrest. The vertebral arteries are variously contorted. Ray. Kant contorted the term category from the proper meaning of attributed. Sir W. Hamilton. "vexation": 1. The act of vexing, or the state of being vexed; agitation; disquiet; trouble; irritation. Passions too violent . . . afford us nothing but vexation and pain. Sir W. Temple. Those who saw him after a defeat looked in vain for any trace of vexation. Macaulay. 2. The cause of trouble or disquiet; affliction. Your children were vexation to your youth. Shak. 3. A harassing by process of law; a vexing or troubling, as by a malicious suit. Bacon. Syn. -- Chagrin; agitation; mortification; uneasiness; trouble; grief; sorrow; distress. See Chagrin. "wrest": 1. To turn; to twist; esp., to twist or extort by violence; to pull of force away by, or as if by, violent wringing or twisting. "The secret wrested from me." Milton. Our country's cause, That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from our hand. Addison. They instantly wrested the government out of the hands of Hastings. Macaulay. 2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort. Wrest once the law to your authority. Shak. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. Ex. xxiii. 6. Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false interpreting the holy text. South. 3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.] 1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion. Hooker. 2. Active or moving power. [Obs.] Spenser. 3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music. The minstrel . . . wore round his neck a silver chain, by which hung the wrest, or key, with which he tuned his harp. Sir W. Scott. 4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the buckets is determined. Wrest pin (Piano Manuf.), one of the pins around which the ends of the wires are wound in a piano. Knight. -- Wrest plank (Piano Manuf.), the part in which the wrest pins are inserted. "whereunto": Same as Whereto.

Difficulty: 16.28
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 24533 The walls and fences on either side of the lane were made of stone, brick, and cement, patched together over many decades, and swarming with a wormy writhe of plants, mosses, and creepers.
Sen 27186 But they hadn’t lived in those miraculous acres, and they hadn’t learned that to survive in such a writhe of hope and sorrow the people had to be scrupulously and heartbreakingly honest.
320 assent prev next
Definition
To admit a thing as true; to express one's agreement, acquiescence, concurrence, or concession. Who informed the governor . . . And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so. Acts xxiv. 9. The princess assented to all that was suggested. Macaulay. Syn. -- To yield; agree; acquiesce; concede; concur. The act of assenting; the act of the mind in admitting or agreeing to anything; concurrence with approval; consent; agreement; acquiescence. Faith is the assent to any proposition, on the credit of the proposer. Locke. The assent, if not the approbation, of the prince. Prescott. Too many people read this ribaldry with assent and admiration. Macaulay. Royal assent, in England, the assent of the sovereign to a bill which has passed both houses of Parliament, after which it becomes law. Syn. -- Concurrence; acquiescence; approval; accord. -- Assent, Consent. Assent is an act of the understanding, consent of the will or feelings. We assent to the views of others when our minds come to the same conclusion with theirs as to what is true, right, or admissible. We consent when there is such a concurrence of our will with their desires and wishes that we decide to comply with their requests. The king of England gives his assent, not his consent, to acts of Parliament, because, in theory at least, he is not governed by personal feelings or choice, but by a deliberate, judgment as to the common good. We also use assent in cases where a proposal is made which involves but little interest or feeling. A lady may assent to a gentleman's opening the window; but if he offers himself in marriage, he must wait for her consent. "acquiesce": 1. To rest satisfied, or apparently satisfied, or to rest without opposition and discontent (usually implying previous opposition or discontent); to accept or consent by silence or by omitting to object; -- followed by in, formerly also by with and to. They were compelled to acquiesce in a government which they did not regard as just. De Quincey. 2. To concur upon conviction; as, to acquiesce in an opinion; to assent to; usually, to concur, not heartily but so far as to forbear opposition. Syn. -- To submit; comply; yield; assent; agree; consent; accede; concur; conform; accept tacitly. "ribaldry": The talk of a ribald; low, vulgar language; indecency; obscenity; lewdness; -- now chiefly applied to indecent language, but formerly, as by Chaucer, also to indecent acts or conduct. The ribaldry of his conversation moved Macaulay. "acquiescence": 1. A silent or passive assent or submission, or a submission with apparent content; -- distinguished from avowed consent on the one hand, and on the other, from opposition or open discontent; quiet satisfaction. 2. (Crim. Law) (a) Submission to an injury by the party injured. (b) Tacit concurrence in the action of another. Wharton. p. 17 "proposer": 1. One who proposes or offers anything for consideration or adoption. 2. A speaker; an orator. [Obs.] Shak. "concurrence": 1. The act of concurring; a meeting or coming together; union; conjunction; combination. We have no other measure but our own ideas, with the concurence of other probable reasons, to persuade us. Locke. 2. A meeting of minds; agreement in opinion; union in design or act; -- implying joint approbation. Tarquin the Proud was expelled by the universal concurrence of nobles and people. Swift. 3. Agreement or consent, implying aid or contribution of power or influence; coöperation. We collect the greatness of the work, and the necessity of the divine concurrence to it. Rogers. An instinct that works us to its own purposes without our concurrence. Burke. 4. A common right; coincidence of equal powers; as, a concurrence of jurisdiction in two different courts. "approbation": 1. Proof; attestation. [Obs.] Shak. 2. The act of approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval; sanction; commendation. Many . . . joined in a loud hum of approbation. Macaulay. The silent approbation of one's own breast. Melmoth. Animals . . . love approbation or praise. Darwin. 3. Probation or novitiate. [Obs.] This day my sister should the cloister enter, And there receive her approbation. Shak. Syn. -- Approval; liking; sanction; consent; concurrence. -- Approbation, Approval. Approbation and approval have the same general meaning, assenting to or declaring as good, sanction, commendation; but approbation is stronger and more positive. "We may be anxious for the approbation of our friends; but we should be still more anxious for the approval of our own consciences." "He who is desirous to obtain universal approbation will learn a good lesson from the fable of the old man and his ass." "The work has been examined by several excellent judges, who have expressed their unqualified approval of its plan and execution." "assenting": Giving or implying assent. -- As*sent"ing*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.27
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 9044 Sobhan Mahmoud wagged his head in assent, his gleaming eyes nesting under a tufted ledge of grey eyebrows.
Sen 27306 Finally, Joseph smiled and gave his assent.
321 abstraction prev next
Definition
1. The act of abstracting, separating, or withdrawing, or the state of being withdrawn; withdrawal. A wrongful abstraction of wealth from certain members of the community. J. S. Mill. 2. (Metaph.) The act process of leaving out of consideration one or more properties of a complex object so as to attend to others; analysis. Thus, when the mind considers the form of a tree by itself, or the color of the leaves as separate from their size or figure, the act is called abstraction. So, also, when it considers whiteness, softness, virtue, existence, as separate from any particular objects. Note: Abstraction is necessary to classification, by which things are arranged in genera and species. We separate in idea the qualities of certain objects, which are of the same kind, from others which are different, in each, and arrange the objects having the same properties in a class, or collected body. Abstraction is no positive act: it is simply the negative of attention. Sir W. Hamilton. 3. An idea or notion of an abstract, or theoretical nature; as, to fight for mere abstractions. 4. A separation from worldly objects; a recluse life; as, a hermit's abstraction. 5. Absence or absorption of mind; inattention to present objects. 6. The taking surreptitiously for one's own use part of the property of another; purloining. [Modern] 7. (Chem.) A separation of volatile parts by the act of distillation. Nicholson. "distillation": 1. The act of falling in drops, or the act of pouring out in drops. 2. That which falls in drops. [R.] Johnson 3. (Chem.) The separation of the volatile parts of a substance from the more fixed; specifically, the operation of driving off gas or vapor from volatile liquids or solids, by heat in a retort or still, and the condensation of the products as far as possible by a cool receiver, alembic, or condenser; rectification; vaporization; condensation; as, the distillation of illuminating gas and coal, of alcohol from sour mash, or of boric acid in steam. Note: The evaporation of water, its condensation into clouds, and its precipitation as rain, dew, frost, snow, or hail, is an illustration of natural distillation. 4. The substance extracted by distilling. Shak. Destructive distillation (Chem.), the distillation, especially of complex solid substances, so that the ultimate constituents are separated or evolved in new compounds, -- usually requiring a high degree of heat; as, the destructive distillation of soft coal or of wood. -- Dry distillation, the distillation of substances by themselves, or without the addition of water or of other volatile solvent; as, the dry distillation of citric acid. -- Fractional distillation. (Chem.) See under Fractional. "genera": See Genus. "whiteness": 1. The quality or state of being white; white color, or freedom from darkness or obscurity on the surface. Chaucer. 2. Want of a sanguineous tinge; paleness; as from terror, grief, etc. "The whiteness in thy cheek." Shak. 3. Freedom from stain or blemish; purity; cleanness. He had kept The whiteness of his soul, and thus men o'er him wept. Byron. 4. Nakedness. [Obs.] Chapman. 5. (Zoöl.) A flock of swans. "inattention": Want of attention, or failure to pay attention; disregard; heedlessness; neglect. Novel lays attract our ravished ears; But old, the mind inattention hears. Pope. Syn. -- Inadvertence; heedlessness; negligence; carelessness; disregard; remissness; thoughtlessness; neglect. -- Inattention, Inadvertence. We miss seeing a thing through inadvertence when do not happen to look at it; through inattention when we give no heed to it, though directly before us. The latter is therefore the worse. Inadvertence may be an involuntary accident; inattention is culpable neglect. A versatile mind is often inadvertent; a careless or stupid one is inattentive.

Difficulty: 16.26
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1287 And writing was one of the things that saved me: the discipline and abstraction of putting my life into words, every day, helped me to cope with shame and its first cousin, despair.
Sen 26512 He made the little speech so calmly, and then sipped at his tea with such contented abstraction, that it exaggerated the weirdness of his delusion.
322 crumple prev next
Definition
To draw or press into wrinkles or folds to crush together; to rumple; as, to crumple paper. They crumpled it into all shapes, and diligently scanned every wrinkle that could be made. Addison. To contract irregularly; to show wrinkless after being crushed together; as, leaves crumple. "irregularly": In an irregular manner.

Difficulty: 16.26
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 22460 ‘And the help you gave me with the clinic?’ I asked, feeling sick, and knowing that if I unlocked my knees and let my legs relax, they would crumple and fold beneath me.
Sen 24288 Didier’s collapse was the work of seconds, and I was watching him crumple and fade from one heartbeat to the next.
323 roadway prev next
Definition
A road; especially, the part traveled by carriages. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 543 Trash tumbled from the windows above without warning, and garbage was heaped in piles on the pavement or the roadway, where fat, fearless rats slithered to feast.
Sen 6126 Abdullah’s motorcycle was parked on the roadway, outside the slum, where several kids were watching over it.
324 lattices prev next
Definition  (lattice)
1. Any work of wood or metal, made by crossing laths, or thin strips, and forming a network; as, the lattice of a window; -- called also latticework. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice. Judg. v. 28. 2. (Her.) The representation of a piece of latticework used as a bearing, the bands being vertical and horizontal. Lattice bridge, a bridge supported by lattice girders, or latticework trusses. -- Lattice girder (Arch.), a girder of which the wed consists of diagonal pieces crossing each other in the manner of latticework. -- Lattice plant (Bot.), an aquatic plant of Madagascar (Ouvirandra fenestralis), whose leaves have interstices between their ribs and cross veins, so as to resemble latticework. A second species is O. Berneriana. The genus is merged in Aponogeton by recent authors. 1. To make a lattice of; as, to lattice timbers. 2. To close, as an opening, with latticework; to furnish with a lattice; as, to lattice a window. To lattice up, to cover or inclose with a lattice. Therein it seemeth he [Alexander] hath latticed up Cæsar. Sir T. North. "latticework": Same as Lattice, n., 1. "girder": One who girds; a satirist. 1. One who, or that which, girds. 2. (Arch. & Engin.) A main beam; a stright, horizontal beam to span an opening or carry weight, such as ends of floor beams, etc.; hence, a framed or built-up member discharging the same office, technically called a compound girder. See Illusts. of Frame, and Doubleframed floor, under Double. Bowstring girder, Box girder, etc. See under Bowstring, Box, etc. -- Girder bridge. See under Bridge. -- Lattice girder, a girder consisting of longitudinal bars united by diagonal crossing bars. -- Half-lattice girder, a girder consisting of horizontal upper and lower bars connected by a series of diagonal bars sloping alternately in opposite directions so as to divide the space between the bars into a series of triangles. Knight. -- Sandwich girder, a girder consisting of two parallel wooden beams, between which is an iron plate, the whole clamped together by iron bolts. "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman.

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 9442 There was a metal gate made from hinged, concertina-style lattices behind him.
Sen 9475 Prabaker asked them to explain what they wanted, and the two blue-skinned men shouted their story, clutching at the lattices of the gate as if they were the boards of a raft on the open sea.
325 contemptuous prev next
Definition
Manifecting or expressing contempt or disdain; scornful; haughty; insolent; disdainful. A proud, contemptious behavior. Hammond. Savage invectiveand contemptuous sarcasm. Macaulay. Rome . . . entertained the most contemptuous opinion of the Jews. Atterbury. Syn. -- Scornful; insolent; haughty; disdainful; supercilious; insulting; contumelious. -- Contemptuous, Contemptible. These words, from their similarity of sound, are sometimes erroneously interchanged, as when a person speaks of having "a very contemptible opinion of another." Contemptible is applied to that which is the object of contempt; as, contemptible conduct; acontemptible fellow. Contemptuous is applied to that which indicates contempts; as, a contemptuous look; a contemptuous remark; contemptuous treatment. A person, or whatever is personal, as an action, an expression, a feeling, an opinion, may be either contemptuous or contemptible; a thing may be contemptible, but can not be contemptuous. "contumelious": 1. Exhibiting contumely; rudely contemptuous; insolent; disdainful. Scoffs, and scorns, and contumelious taunts. Shak. Curving a contumelious lip. Tennyson. 2. Shameful; disgraceful. [Obs.] Dr. H. More. -- Con`tu*me"li*ous*ly, adv. -- Con`tu*me"li*ous*ness, n. "disdainful": Full of disdain; expressing disdain; scornful; contemptuous; haughty. From these Turning disdainful to an equal good. Akenside. -- Dis*dain"ful*ly, adv. -- Dis*dain"ful*ness, n. "supercilious": Lofty with pride; haughty; dictatorial; overbearing; arrogant; as, a supercilious officer; asupercilious air; supercilious behavior. -- Su`per*cil"i*ous*ly, adv. -- Su`per*cil"i*ous*ness, n. "scornful": 1. Full of scorn or contempt; contemptuous; disdainful. Scornful of winter's frost and summer's sun. Prior. Dart not scornful glances from those eyes. Shak. 2. Treated with scorn; exciting scorn. [Obs.] The scornful mark of every open eye. Shak. Syn. -- Contemptuous; disdainful; contumelious; reproachful; insolent. -- Scorn"ful*ly, adv. -- Scorn"ful*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.22
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7705 ‘Her eyes are the colour of stink-weed,’ said the first with a contemptuous sniff.
Sen 9565 The watchman wrinkled his lips in a pitying and contemptuous sneer.
326 tufted prev next
Definition
1. Adorned with a tuft; as, the tufted duck. 2. Growing in tufts or clusters; tufty. The tufted crowtoe, and pale jessamine. Milton. Tufted trees and springing corn. Pope. Tufted duck (Zoöl.), the ring-necked duck. [Local, U.S.] "tufty": 1. Abounding with tufts. Both in the tufty frith and in the mossy fell. Drayton. 2. Growing in tufts or clusters. Where tufty daisies nod at every gale. W. Browne. "jessamine": Same as Jasmine. "crowtoe": 1. The Lotus corniculatus. Dr. Prior. 2. An unidentified plant, probably the crowfoot. "The tufted crowtoe." Milton.

Difficulty: 16.22
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 9044 Sobhan Mahmoud wagged his head in assent, his gleaming eyes nesting under a tufted ledge of grey eyebrows.
Sen 21471 We responded to each new sight of a softly carpeted incline or tufted, leafy moor with similar pleasure—a deep, subliminal response to the vitality in the colour green.
327 jutting prev next
Definition
Projecting, as corbels, cornices, etc. -- Jut"ting*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.22
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 19898 Nazeer waited for her there, his thick arms jutting out from the swollen trunk of his body.
Sen 23649 But it wasn’t Habib’s knife that we stared at, jutting out of the muddy, sinewed throat like a branch from a riverbed.
328 squelched prev next
Definition  (squelch)
To quell; to crush; to silence or put down. [Colloq.] Oh 't was your luck and mine to be squelched. Beau. & Fl. If you deceive us you will be squelched. Carlyle. A heavy fall, as of something flat; hence, also, a crushing reply. [Colloq.] Hudibras.

Difficulty: 16.22
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2349 One foot strayed from the edge of the wall, and my boot squelched into a muddy slime that rested in the centre of the path.
Sen 21759 My hand squelched in a bloody wound.
329 fixity prev next
Definition
1. Fixedness; as, fixity of tenure; also, that which is fixed. 2. Coherence of parts. Sir I. Newton. "fixedness": 1. The state or quality of being fixed; stability; steadfastness. 2. The quality of a body which resists evaporation or volatilization by heat; solidity; cohesion of parts; as, the fixedness of gold. "coherence": 1. A sticking or cleaving together; union of parts of the same body; cohesion. 2. Connection or dependence, proceeding from the subordination of the parts of a thing to one principle or purpose, as in the parts of a discourse, or of a system of philosophy; consecutiveness. Coherence of discourse, and a direct tendency of all the parts of it to the argument in hand, are most eminently to be found in him. Locke.

Difficulty: 16.21
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4207 He was a full head and shoulder shorter than she was, and he returned her baleful stare with the fixity of a school bully’s minor henchman.
Sen 4765 They were all staring at me with such gravity, such a fixity of frowning intensity, that I felt sure they must bear me enormous ill-will.
330 saucepans prev next
Definition  (saucepan)
A small pan with a handle, in which sauce is prepared over a fire; a stewpan. "stewpan": A pan used for stewing.

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 5051 A stool found its way into my hut, and a water pot—the ubiquitous matka—and a set of saucepans, and a few pieces of cutlery.
Sen 9650 Carried back and hoisted through the wire, the water had to be boiled in saucepans on small kerosene stoves, at some cost of the relatively expensive fuel.
331 harmonium prev next
Definition
A musical instrument, resembling a small organ and especially designed for church music, in which the tones are produced by forcing air by means of a bellows so as to cause the vibration of free metallic reeds. It is now made with one or two keyboards, and has pedals and stops.

Difficulty: 16.18
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 5926 The musicians accompanying the singers on the harmonium and the tablas were animated, but the singers themselves were expressionless, motionless, with their eyes closed and their hands limp.
Sen 20793 The Blind Singers cleared their throats noisily, and the assembly of musicians began the introduction to a new song with the plaintive wail of the harmonium and the blood-stirring passion of the tablas.
332 forefinger prev next
Definition
The finger next to the thumb; the index.

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1065 I liked the Helvetian music of her Swiss-American English, and the way she pushed her hair back slowly with a thumb and forefinger when she was irritated by something.
Sen 8946 He scratched at his bushy eyebrows with thumb and forefinger, and then plunged into the discussion with the confident air of a man much used to expressing his opinions.
333 diminutive prev next
Definition
1. Below the average size; very small; little. 2. Expressing diminution; as, a diminutive word. 3. Tending to diminish. [R.] Diminutive of liberty. Shaftesbury. 1. Something of very small size or value; an insignificant thing. Such water flies, diminutives of nature. Shak. 2. (Gram.) A derivative from a noun, denoting a small or a young object of the same kind with that denoted by the primitive; as, gosling, eaglet, lambkin. Babyisms and dear diminutives. Tennyson. Note: The word sometimes denotes a derivative verb which expresses a diminutive or petty form of the action, as scribble. "eaglet": A young eagle, or a diminutive eagle. "diminution": 1. The act of diminishing, or of making or becoming less; state of being diminished; reduction in size, quantity, or degree; -- opposed to augmentation or increase. 2. The act of lessening dignity or consideration, or the state of being deprived of dignity; a lowering in estimation; degradation; abasement. The world's opinion or diminution of me. Eikon Basilike. Nor thinks it diminution to be ranked In military honor next. Philips. 3. (Law) Omission, inaccuracy, or defect in a record. 4. (Mus.) In counterpoint, the imitation of, or reply to, a subject, in notes of half the length or value of those the subject itself. Syn. -- Decrease; decay; abatement; reduction; deduction; decrement. "lambkin": A small lamb.

Difficulty: 16.16
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 817 It was a diminutive I never could’ve invented for myself.
Sen 5626 The affectionate diminutive of the name Ramesh, Ramu, provoked a wide, child’s smile on the young face.
334 emaciated prev next
Definition  (emaciate)
To lose flesh gradually and become very lean; to waste away in flesh. "He emaciated and pined away." Sir T. Browne. To cause to waste away in flesh and become very lean; as, his sickness emaciated him. Emaciated. "Emaciate steeds." T. Warton.

Difficulty: 16.16
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1817 I found it amazing that such a feral, emaciated creature should permit itself to be petted by a stranger, and that Karla would want to do such a thing.
Sen 13713 And despite their shock and sorrow when they saw my emaciated frame, and the scars that the overseers had branded on my skin, they never once mentioned the prison.
335 cobbled prev next
Definition  (cobble)
A fishing boat. See Coble. 1. A cobblestone. "Their slings held cobbles round." Fairfax. 2. pl. Cob coal. See under Cob. 1. To make or mend coarsely; to patch; to botch; as, to cobble shoes. Shak. "A cobbled saddle." Thackeray. 2. To make clumsily. "Cobbled rhymes." Dryden. 3. To pave with cobblestones. "coarsely": In a coarse manner; roughly; rudely; inelegantly; uncivilly; meanly. "clumsily": In a clumsy manner; awkwardly; as, to walk clumsily. "botch": 1. A swelling on the skin; a large ulcerous affection; a boil; an eruptive disease. [Obs. or Dial.] Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss. Milton. 2. A patch put on, or a part of a garment patched or mended in a clumsy manner. 3. Work done in a bungling manner; a clumsy performance; a piece of work, or a place in work, marred in the doing, or not properly finished; a bungle. To leave no rubs nor botches in the work. Shak. 1. To mark with, or as with, botches. Young Hylas, botched with stains. Garth. 2. To repair; to mend; esp. to patch in a clumsy or imperfect manner, as a garment; -- sometimes with up. Sick bodies . . . to be kept and botched up for a time. Robynson (More's Utopia). 3. To put together unsuitably or unskillfully; to express or perform in a bungling manner; to spoil or mar, as by unskillful work. For treason botched in rhyme will be thy bane. Dryden. "cobblestone": A large pebble; a rounded stone not too large to be handled; a small boulder; -- used for paving streets and for other purposes. "coble": A flat-floored fishing boat with a lug sail, and a drop rudder extending from two to four feet below the keel. It was originally used on the stormy coast of Yorkshire, England.

Difficulty: 16.16
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4522 I found myself thinking of her apartment, of her ground-floor windows, those tall French doors that looked out on the cobbled lane, not five minutes away from my hotel.
Sen 26423 They slept in shifts, in a loft space they’d built above the cobbled lane and between the walls of adjacent buildings.
336 overstayed prev next
Definition  (overstay)
To stay beyond the time or the limits of; as, to overstay the appointed time. Bp. Hall.

Difficulty: 16.16
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 17434 Some had overstayed their visas, and that lapse had to be expunged from the book before it could be used.
Sen 24099 According to the entries in the book, I’d overstayed on my visa.
337 wove prev next
Definition
p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.

Difficulty: 16.15
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7562 Snaking lines of sari-clad women carrying dishes of gravel on their heads wove through all the workplaces, from man-made dunes of small stones to the yawning mouths of ceaselessly revolving cement-mixing machines.
Sen 25583 On the street below us, parading tourists wove coloured garlands with their movements through and around the tall, stony gallery of the Gateway Monument.
338 peeved prev next

Difficulty: 16.15
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1576 ‘That is one of mine,’ he said, apparently peeved that I hadn’t drawn attention to the phrase.
Sen 16758 He pouted for a few moments, too peeved to proceed, but then raised his eyes to meet mine and laughed out loud.
339 eaves prev next
Definition
1. (Arch.) The edges or lower borders of the roof of a building, which overhang the walls, and cast off the water that falls on the roof. 2. Brow; ridge. [Obs.] "Eaves of the hill." Wyclif. 3. Eyelids or eyelashes. And closing eaves of wearied eyes. Tennyson. Eaves board (Arch.), an arris fillet, or a thick board with a feather edge, nailed across the rafters at the eaves of a building, to raise the lower course of slates a little, or to receive the lowest course of tiles; -- called also eaves catch and eaves lath. -- Eaves channel, Eaves gutter, Eaves trough. Same as Gutter, 1. -- Eaves molding (Arch.), a molding immediately below the eaves, acting as a cornice or part of a cornice. -- Eaves swallow (Zoöl.). (a) The cliff swallow; -- so called from its habit of building retort-shaped nests of mud under the eaves of buildings. See Cliff swallow, under Cliff. (b) The European swallow. "lath": A thin, narrow strip of wood, nailed to the rafters, studs, or floor beams of a building, for the purpose of supporting the tiles, plastering, etc. A corrugated metallic strip or plate is sometimes used. Lath brick, a long, slender brick, used in making the floor on which malt is placed in the drying kiln. Lath nail a slender nail for fastening laths. To cover or line with laths. "overhang": 1. To impend or hang over. [R.] Beau. & Fl. 2. To hang over; to jut or project over. Pope. To jut over. Milton. 1. In a general sense, that which just out or projects; a projection; also, the measure of the projection; as, the overhang is five feet. 2. Specifically: The projection of an upper part (as a roof, an upper story, or other part) of a building beyond the lower part; as, the overhang of a roof, of the eaves, etc. 3. (Naut.) The portion of the bow or stem of a vessel that projects over the water beyond the water line. 4. (Mach.) The projection of a part beyond another part that is directly below it, or beyond a part by which it is supported; as, the overhang of a shaft; i. e., its projection beyond its bearing. "arris": The sharp edge or salient angle formed by two surfaces meeting each other, whether plane or curved; -- applied particularly to the edges in moldings, and to the raised edges which separate the flutings in a Doric column. P. Cyc. Arris fillet, a triangular piece of wood used to raise the slates of a roof against a chimney or wall, to throw off the rain. Gwilt. -- Arris gutter, a gutter of a V form fixed to the eaves of a building. Gwilt. "cornice": Any horizontal, molded or otherwise decorated projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed; as, the cornice of an order, pedestal, door, window, or house. Gwilt. Cornice ring, the ring on a cannon next behind the muzzle ring.

Difficulty: 16.15
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 8367 There was an alleyway on the right-hand side of the building, and the stonemasons had lavished their handiwork on the quoin—every second stone from the ground to below the eaves was faceted like a jewel.
Sen 24639 I was leaning out backwards, looking up under blue sky at the crazed servant and the eaves of the house behind his head.
340 trawled prev next
Definition  (trawl)
To take fish, or other marine animals, with a trawl. 1. A fishing line, often extending a mile or more, having many short lines bearing hooks attached to it. It is used for catching cod, halibut, etc.; a boulter. [U. S. & Canada] 2. A large bag net attached to a beam with iron frames at its ends, and dragged at the bottom of the sea, -- used in fishing, and in gathering forms of marine life from the sea bottom. "boulter": A long, stout fishing line to which many hooks are attached.

Difficulty: 16.14
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 17584 When I needed foreigners to fill bit parts in the Bollywood films, I trawled those cafes and restaurants.
Sen 26089 Old men in the district nodded to one another, and compared the relative calm on their streets with the chaos that tumbled and trawled through the streets of other districts.
341 pirouette prev next
Definition
1. A whirling or turning on the toes in dancing. 2. (Man.) The whirling about of a horse. To perform a pirouette; to whirl, like a dancer.

Difficulty: 16.13
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 1984 He pushed himself forward with his hands until he reached the centre of the deserted road, wheeling to a stop with a dramatic pirouette.
Sen 1995 With another swift, show-off’s pirouette, he propelled himself forward along the road, gaining speed as he rolled down the gentle slope to the Gateway Monument.
342 sweltering prev next
Definition  (swelter)
1. To be overcome and faint with heat; to be ready to perish with heat. "Sweltered cattle." Coleridge. 2. To welter; to soak. [Obs.] Drayton. 1. To oppress with heat. Bentley. 2. To exude, like sweat. [R.] Shak. "exude": To discharge through pores or incisions, as moisture or other liquid matter; to give out. Our forests exude turpentine in . . . abundance. Dr. T. Dwight. To flow from a body through the pores, or by a natural discharge, as juice. "welter": 1. To roll, as the body of an animal; to tumble about, especially in anything foul or defiling; to wallow. When we welter in pleasures and idleness, then we eat and drink with drunkards. Latimer. These wizards welter in wealth's waves. Spenser. He must not float upon his watery bier Unwept, and welter to the parching wind, Without the meed of some melodious tear. Milton. The priests at the altar . . . weltering in their blood. Landor. 2. To rise and fall, as waves; to tumble over, as billows. "The weltering waves." Milton. Waves that, hardly weltering, die away. Wordsworth. Through this blindly weltering sea. Trench. To wither; to wilt. [R.] Weltered hearts and blighted . . . memories. I. Taylor. Of, pertaining to, or designating, the most heavily weighted race in a meeting; as, a welter race; the welter stakes. 1. That in which any person or thing welters, or wallows; filth; mire; slough. The foul welter of our so-called religious or other controversies. Carlyle. 2. A rising or falling, as of waves; as, the welter of the billows; the welter of a tempest.

Difficulty: 16.12
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 6732 They talked quietly while the sun rose to its zenith, and the sweltering humidity of the day clamped a moist grip on us all.
Sen 16316 My city was a steaming, sweltering hothouse garden of dreaming.
343 footstep prev next
Definition
1. The mark or impression of the foot; a track; hence, visible sign of a course pursued; token; mark; as, the footsteps of divine wisdom. How on the faltering footsteps of decay Youth presses. Bryant. 2. An inclined plane under a hand printing press. "faltering": Hesitating; trembling. "With faltering speech." Milton. -- n. Falter; halting; hesitation. -- Fal"ter*ing*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.12
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 21303 In places they were so jagged and narrow that every footstep of horse or man was brooded over with careful, trembling consideration before it was made.
Sen 22052 We heard a sound, a footstep, behind us.
344 burgeoning prev next
Definition  (burgeon)
To bud. See Bourgeon. "bourgeon": To sprout; to put forth buds; to shoot forth, as a branch. Gayly to bourgeon and broadly to grow. Sir W. Scott.

Difficulty: 16.12
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 25462 During the four years since his release, Faisal had worked as Amir’s principal strong-arm man in the burgeoning protection racket.
Sen 26808 While the commitment had exhausted their savings and forced them to borrow from Vikram’s parents, it was proof of their faith in one another and the future of their burgeoning movie business, and they were still excited with the change.
345 pullover prev next

Difficulty: 16.12
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 18028 She was dressed in a pullover and jeans, an outfit that only a Bombay native could wear on such a humid, still, and hot night.
Sen 18943 Lisa wore a thin, lava-red pullover beneath a black silk jacket, and a skirt.
346 feints prev next
Definition  (feint)
Feigned; counterfeit. [Obs.] Dressed up into any feint appearance of it. Locke. 1. That which is feigned; an assumed or false appearance; a pretense; a stratagem; a fetch. Courtley's letter is but a feint to get off. Spectator. 2. A mock blow or attack on one part when another part is intended to be struck; -- said of certain movements in fencing, boxing, war, etc. To make a feint, or mock attack. "stratagem": An artifice or trick in war for deceiving the enemy; hence, in general, artifice; deceptive device; secret plot; evil machination. Fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. Shak. Those oft are stratagems which error seem, Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. Pope.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4854 Wilful gusts of wind drove the arc forward in probing feints, flaring up suddenly on one side, and then blazing toward us from a different direction.
Sen 10466 The wild howling goaded the most maddened of them to make a series of rushing feints from several directions.
347 feint prev next
Definition
Feigned; counterfeit. [Obs.] Dressed up into any feint appearance of it. Locke. 1. That which is feigned; an assumed or false appearance; a pretense; a stratagem; a fetch. Courtley's letter is but a feint to get off. Spectator. 2. A mock blow or attack on one part when another part is intended to be struck; -- said of certain movements in fencing, boxing, war, etc. To make a feint, or mock attack. "stratagem": An artifice or trick in war for deceiving the enemy; hence, in general, artifice; deceptive device; secret plot; evil machination. Fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. Shak. Those oft are stratagems which error seem, Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. Pope.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 10486 The large black dog that seemed to be the pack leader made a cunning double feint.
Sen 27744 The feint had its effect.
348 emphatic prev next
Definition
1. Uttered with emphasis; made prominent and impressive by a peculiar stress of voice; laying stress; deserving of stress or emphasis; forcible; impressive; strong; as, to remonstrate in am emphatic manner; an emphatic word; an emphatic tone; emphatic reasoning. 2. Striking the sense; attracting special attention; impressive; forcible. "Emphatical colors." Boyle. "Emphatical evils." Bp. Reynolds. Syn. -- Forcible; earnest; impressive; energetic; striking; positive; important; special; significant. "remonstrate": To point out; to show clearly; to make plain or manifest; hence, to prove; to demonstrate. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor. I will remonstrate to you the third door. B. Jonson. To present and urge reasons in opposition to an act, measure, or any course of proceedings; to expostulate; as, to remonstrate with a person regarding his habits; to remonstrate against proposed taxation. It is proper business of a divine to state cases of conscience, and to remonstrate against any growing corruptions in practice, and especially in principles. Waterland. Syn. -- Expostulate, Remonstrate. These words are commonly interchangeable, the principal difference being that expostulate is now used especially to signify remonstrance by a superior or by one in authority. A son remonstrates against the harshness of a father; a father expostulates with his son on his waywardness. Subjects remonstrate with their rulers; sovereigns expostulate with the parliament or the people. "forcible": 1. Possessing force; characterized by force, efficiency, or energy; powerful; efficacious; impressive; influential. How forcible are right words! Job. vi. 2 Sweet smells are most forcible in dry substances, when broken. Bacon. But I have reasons strong and forcible. Shak. That punishment which hath been sometimes forcible to bridle sin. Hooker. He is at once elegant and sublime, forcible and ornamented. Lowth (Transl. ) 2. Violent; impetuous. Like mingled streams, more forcible when joined. Prior. 3. Using force against opposition or resistance; obtained by compulsion; effected by force; as, forcible entry or abduction. In embraces of King James . . . forcible and unjust. Swift. Forcible entry and detainer (Law), the entering upon and taking and withholding of land and tenements by actual force and violence, and with a strong hand, to the hindrance of the person having the right to enter. Syn. -- Violent; powerful; strong; energetic; mighty; potent; weighty; impressive; cogent; influential. "emphatical": 1. Uttered with emphasis; made prominent and impressive by a peculiar stress of voice; laying stress; deserving of stress or emphasis; forcible; impressive; strong; as, to remonstrate in am emphatic manner; an emphatic word; an emphatic tone; emphatic reasoning. 2. Striking the sense; attracting special attention; impressive; forcible. "Emphatical colors." Boyle. "Emphatical evils." Bp. Reynolds. Syn. -- Forcible; earnest; impressive; energetic; striking; positive; important; special; significant.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 2489 All of them stared out at the well-fed, well-clothed purchasers and agents, following every change of expression or emphatic gesture of their bejewelled hands.
Sen 11778 Competition in Colaba for the tourist dollar was cordial, but creatively emphatic.
349 strode prev next
Definition
See Strude. [Obs.] imp. of Stride. "strude": A stock of breeding mares. [Written also strode.] [Obs.] Bailey.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 9887 He turned without looking at the boy, and strode off into the shadowed arches.
Sen 16064 I strode on through familiar streets, and told myself that it was okay.
350 fastidiously prev next
Definition  (fastidious)
Difficult to please; delicate to fault; suited with difficulty; squeamish; as, a fastidious mind or ear; a fastidious appetite. Proud youth ! fastidious of the lower world. Young. Syn. -- Squeamish; critical; overnice; difficult; punctilious. -- Fastidious, Squeamish. We call a person fastidious when his taste or feelings are offended by trifling defects or errors; we call him squeamish when he is excessively nice or critical on minor points, and also when he is overscrupulous as to questions of duty. "Whoever examines his own imperfections will cease to be fastidious; whoever restrains his caprice and scrupulosity will cease to be squeamish." Crabb. -- Fas*tid"i*ous*ly, adv. -- Fas*tid"i*ous*ness, n. "overnice": Excessively nice; fastidious. Bp. Hall. -- O"ver*nice"ly, adv. -- O"ver*nice"ness, n. "overscrupulous": Scrupulous to excess. "scrupulosity": The quality or state of being scruppulous; doubt; doubtfulness respecting decision or action; caution or tenderness from the far of doing wrong or ofending; nice regard to exactness and propierty; precision. The first sacrilege is looked on with horror; but when they have made the breach, their scrupulosity soon retires. Dr. H. More. Careful, even to scrupulosity, . . . to keep their Sabbath. South. "punctilious": Attentive to punctilio; very nice or exact in the forms of behavior, etiquette, or mutual intercourse; precise; exact in the smallest particulars. "A punctilious observance of divine laws." Rogers. "Very punctilious copies of any letters. The Nation. Punctilious in the simple and intelligible instances of common life. I. Taylor. -- Punc*til"ious*ly, adv. -- Punc*til"ious*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 11869 His moustache was fastidiously snipped and trimmed to little more than the thickness that a felt-tipped pen might’ve made.
Sen 17358 Although foreigners had to show their passports for C-Form entries when they registered at hotels, every city had its share of places that weren’t fastidiously precise about the resemblance, or lack of it, between a passport and its bearer.
351 bewildering prev next
Definition
Causing bewilderment or great perplexity; as, bewildering difficulties. -- Be*wil"der*ing*ly, adv. "bewilderment": 1. The state of being bewildered. 2. A bewildering tangle or confusion. He . . . soon lost all traces of it amid bewilderment of tree trunks and underbrush. Hawthorne. "perplexity": The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 684 What I found bewildering, all around me, seemed to be mundane for her.
Sen 2260 But for me that sudden, savage, bewildering riot, the sight of that taxi-driver floating away on a rippling wave of hands, shoulders, and heads was a turning point.
352 loincloth prev next

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3526 The dhoti is technically described as a loincloth, but the term robs the garment of its serene and graceful elegance.
Sen 15439 Tall, lean, and tanned to a dark, earthbrown, he wore a loincloth and was adorned with dozens of necklaces, amulets, and decorative bracelets.
353 itinerants prev next
Definition  (itinerant)
Passing or traveling about a country; going or preaching on a circuit; wandering; not settled; as, an itinerant preacher; an itinerant peddler. The king's own courts were then itinerant, being kept in the king's palace, and removing with his household in those royal progresses which he continually made. Blackstone. One who travels from place to place, particularly a preacher; one who is unsettled. Glad to turn itinerant, To stroll and teach from town to town. Hudibras.

Difficulty: 16.08
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7158 With only days to go before the big rain, many itinerants and entertainers, like the two bear-handlers, had sought shelter in slums throughout the city.
Sen 7187 Along with those itinerants, many of the people who lived on the streets near our slum were drawn to the relative security of our huts.
354 criterion prev next
Definition
A standard of judging; any approved or established rule or test, by which facts, principles opinions, and conduct are tried in forming a correct judgment respecting them. Of the diseases of the mind there is no criterion. Donne. Inferences founded on such enduring criteria. Sir G. C. Lewis. Syn. -- Standard; measure; rule.

Difficulty: 16.07
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 14712 If we have no commonly agreed criterion for measuring length, we will never agree about how much land is yours, and how much is mine, or how to cut lengths of wood when we build a house.
Sen 14733 They wanted an unchanging criterion against which to measure all other things.
355 devotional prev next
Definition
Pertaining to, suited to, or used in, devotion; as, a devotional posture; devotional exercises; a devotional frame of mind.

Difficulty: 16.06
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4581 Conversations, buzzing softly, blended with music and devotional chanting, coming from somewhere inside the compound.
Sen 27371 Seeing our little procession as an opportunity to practise their music on the march, they swung in behind us and struck up a rousing, if not particularly canorous, version of a popular devotional song.
356 squalling prev next
Definition  (squall)
A sudden violent gust of wind often attended with rain or snow. The gray skirts of a lifting squall. Tennyson. Black squall, a squall attended with dark, heavy clouds. -- Thick squall, a black squall accompanied by rain, hail, sleet, or snow. Totten. -- White squall, a squall which comes unexpectedly, without being marked in its approach by the clouds. Totten. To cry out; to scream or cry violently, as a woman frightened, or a child in anger or distress; as, the infant squalled. A loud scream; a harsh cry. There oft are heard the notes of infant woe, -The short, thick sob, loud scream, and shriller squall. Pope.

Difficulty: 16.06
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4898 When one squalling downdraft of wind swept black and brown smoke into our clearing, we lost sight of Qasim Ali Hussein completely.
Sen 20492 Vexed and gloomy with squalling emotions I entered the Faloodah House in the Bohri bazaar, and ordered one of the sweet, technicoloured drinks.
357 beckoned prev next
Definition  (beckon)
To make a significant sign to; hence, to summon, as by a motion of the hand. His distant friends, he beckons near. Dryden. It beckons you to go away with it. Shak. A sign made without words; a beck. "At the first beckon." Bolingbroke. BECK'S SCALE Beck's scale. A hydrometer scale on which the zero point corresponds to sp. gr. 1.00, and the 30º-point to sp. gr. 0.85. From these points the scale is extended both ways, all the degrees being of equal length. "hydrometer": 1. (Physics) An instrument for determining the specific gravities of liquids, and thence the strength spirituous liquors, saline solutions, etc. Note: It is usually made of glass with a graduated stem, and indicates the specific gravity of a liquid by the depth to which it sinks in it, the zero of the scale marking the depth to which it sinks in pure water. Extra weights are sometimes used to adapt the scale to liquids of different densities. 2. An instrument, variously constructed, used for measuring the velocity or discharge of water, as in rivers, from reservoirs, etc., and called by various specific names according to its construction or use, as tachometer, rheometer, hydrometer, pendulum, etc.; a current gauge.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 860 He finished talking, at last, and beckoned me forward.
Sen 27333 At last, Rakeshbaba pulled aside the reed curtains and beckoned us to enter his workshop.
358 unrecognisable prev next

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3192 The word he was repeating with such distress was unrecognisable to me because I wasn’t used to being addressed by it: Sir.
Sen 25974 Everyone said you were shot so many times that your face was unrecognisable.’
359 perplexing prev next
Definition
Embarrassing; puzzling; troublesome. "Perplexing thoughts." Milton.

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3267 When I understood that, a great many of the characteristically perplexing aspects of public life became comprehensible: from the acceptance of sprawling slums by city authorities, to the freedom that cows had to roam at random in the midst of traffic; from the toleration of beggars on the streets, to the concatenate complexity of the bureaucracies; and from the gorgeous, unashamed escapism of Bollywood movies, to the accommodation of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Tibet, Iran, Afghanistan, Africa, and Bangladesh, in a country that was already too crowded with sorrows and needs of its own.
Sen 8602 He stared that perplexing malice into my eyes once more, and then closed the door.
360 vivacious prev next
Definition
1. Having vigorous powers of life; tenacious of life; long-lived. [Obs.] Hitherto the English bishops have been vivacious almost to wonder. . . . But five died for the first twenty years of her [Queen Elizabeth's] reign. Fuller. The faith of Christianity is far more vivacious than any mere ravishment of the imagination can ever be. I. Taylor. 2. Sprightly in temper or conduct; lively; merry; as, a vivacious poet. "Vivacious nonsense." V. Knox. 3. (Bot.) Living through the winter, or from year to year; perennial. [R.] Syn. -- Sprightly; active; animated; sportive; gay; merry; jocund; light- hearted. -- Vi*va"cious*ly, adv. -- Vi*va"cious*ness, n. "ravishment": 1. The act of carrying away by force or against consent; abduction; as, the ravishment of children from their parents, or a ward from his guardian, or of a wife from her husband. Blackstone. 2. The state of being ravished; rapture; transport of delight; ecstasy. Spencer. In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze. Milton. 3. The act of ravishing a woman; rape. "sprightly": Sprightlike, or spiritlike; lively; brisk; animated; vigorous; airy; gay; as, a sprightly youth; a sprightly air; a sprightly dance. "Sprightly wit and love inspires." Dryden. The sprightly Sylvia trips along the green. Pope. "sportive": Tending to, engaged in, or provocate of, sport; gay; froliscome; playful; merry. Is it I That drive thee from the sportive court Shak. -- Sport"ive*ly, adv. -- Sport"ive*ness, n. "jocund": Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. Shak. Rural sports and jocund strains. Prior. -- Joc"und*ly, adv. -- Joc"und*ness, n. Merrily; cheerfully. Gray.

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 4011 The grandparents were plump, but not fat, the parents were bright-eyed and fit, and the children were straight-limbed, clever, and vivacious.
Sen 18390 On their first visit they found Lisa Carter, Kalpana, Kavita, and Lettie, with three German girls who’d worked for Lisa as extras on a film —seven beautiful, intelligent, vivacious young women.
361 spluttering prev next
Definition  (splutter)
To speak hastily and confusedly; to sputter. [Colloq.] Carleton. A confused noise, as of hasty speaking. [Colloq.] "confusedly": In a confused manner. "sputter": 1. To spit, or to emit saliva from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking. 2. To utter words hastily and indistinctly; to speak so rapidly as to emit saliva. They could neither of them speak their rage, and so fell a sputtering at one another, like two roasting apples. Congreve. 3. To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a noise like that made by one sputtering. Like the green wood . . . sputtering in the flame. Dryden. To spit out hastily by quick, successive efforts, with a spluttering sound; to utter hastily and confusedly, without control over the organs of speech. In the midst of caresses, and without the last pretend incitement, to sputter out the basest accusations. Swift. Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles; also, confused and hasty speech.

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 13052 I swallowed quickly, gulping and spluttering.
Sen 24792 Spluttering and coughing in the cloud of charcoal dust and floating fibres, I wriggled against my fallen friend to sit upright.
362 encircling prev next
Definition  (encircle)
To form a circle about; to inclose within a circle or ring; to surround; as, to encircle one in the arms; the army encircled the city. Her brows encircled with his serpent rod. Parnell. Syn. -- To encompass; surround; environ; inclose. "encompass": To circumscribe or go round so as to surround closely; to encircle; to inclose; to environ; as, a ring encompasses the finger; an army encompasses a city; a voyage encompassing the world. Shak. A question may be encompassed with difficulty. C. J. Smith. The love of all thy sons encompass thee. Tennyson. Syn. -- To encircle; inclose; surround; include; environ; invest; hem in; shut up. "environ": To surround; to encompass; to encircle; to hem in; to be round about; to involve or envelop. Dwelling in a pleasant glade, With mountains round about environed. Spenser. Environed he was with many foes. Shak. Environ me with darkness whilst I write. Donne. About; around. [Obs.] Lord Godfrey's eye three times environ goes. Fairfax. "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman.

Difficulty: 16.03
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 3787 Within the encircling lungi, I removed and discarded my wet shorts and slipped on a dry pair of shorts underneath.
Sen 11785 Exiles from Afghanistan sold huge, ornamental silver rings engraved with the Pashto script and encircling amethysts the size of pigeons’ eggs.
363 tradesmen prev next

Difficulty: 16.03
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 7464 The tradesmen, artisans, and labourers who built the towers were housed in hutments, tiny slum-dwellings, on land adjacent to the site.
Sen 7466 Many of the tradesmen were itinerant workers who followed where their skills were needed, and whose real homes were hundreds of kilometres away in other states.
364 gristle prev next
Definition
Cartilage. See Cartilage. Bacon.

Difficulty: 16.00
Appears 2 times in book:
Sen 12768 One of the overseers then climbed onto the block and jumped off onto Raheem’s arm, with both feet, snapping the arm backwards in a sickening crunch of gristle and bone.
Sen 24677 The knife went in through the front and deep into the shoulder, crunching an edge of bone and gristle on the way.
365 claustral prev next
Definition
Cloistral. Ayliffe "cloistral": Of, pertaining to, or confined in, a cloister; recluse. [Written also cloisteral.] Best become a cloistral exercise. Daniel.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2307 The blue flames of his kerosene stove, eerie and claustral, provided the only light.
366 synonyme prev next
Definition
Same as Synonym. "synonym": One of two or more words (commonly words of the same language) which are equivalents of each other; one of two or more words which have very nearly the same signification, and therefore may often be used interchangeably. See under Synonymous. [Written also synonyme.] All languages tend to clear themselves of synonyms as intellectual culture advances, the superfluous words being taken up and appropriated by new shades and combinations of thought evolved in the progress of society. De Quincey. His name has thus become, throughout all civilized countries, a synonym for probity and philanthropy. Macaulay. In popular literary acceptation, and as employed in special dictionaries of such words, synonyms are words sufficiently alike in general signification to be liable to be confounded, but yet so different in special definition as to require to be distinguished. G. P. Marsh.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2566 The very name of Borsalino became a synonyme for gangsters.
367 enswathed prev next
Definition  (enswathe)
To swathe; to envelop, as in swaddling clothes. Shak. "swathe": To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers. Their children are never swathed or bound about with any thing when they are first born. Abp. Abbot. A bandage; a band; a swath. Wrapped me in above an hundred yards of swathe. Addison. Milk and a swathe, at first, his whole demand. Young. The solemn glory of the afternoon, with its long swathes of light between the far off rows of limes. G. Eliot. "swaddling": from Swaddle, v. Swaddling band, Swaddling cloth, or Swaddling clout, a band or cloth wrapped round an infant, especially round a newborn infant. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Luke ii. 12. "envelop": To put a covering about; to wrap up or in; to inclose within a case, wrapper, integument or the like; to surround entirely; as, to envelop goods or a letter; the fog envelops a ship. Nocturnal shades this world envelop. J. Philips. 1. That which envelops, wraps up, encases, or surrounds; a wrapper; an inclosing cover; esp., the cover or wrapper of a document, as of a letter. 2. (Astron.) The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; -- called also coma. 3. (Fort.) A work of earth, in the form of a single parapet or of a small rampart. It is sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it. Wilhelm. 4. (Geom.) A curve or surface which is tangent to each member of a system of curves or surfaces, the form and position of the members of the system being allowed to vary according to some continuous law. Thus, any curve is the envelope of its tangents. push the envelope. It is used to refer to the maximum performance available at the current state of the technology, and therefore refers to a class of machines in general, not a specific machine. push the envelope Increase the capability of some type of machine or system; -- usu. by technological development.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3838 Her life enfolded mine within its triumph and sorrow, just as easily as her red shawl sometimes enswathed a crying child that passed the doorway of her house.
368 inevasible prev next
Definition
Incapable of being

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4049 The advance was so rapid that the inevasible creep of the swollen, landconsuming river moved toward the village at a slow walking pace.
369 concrescence prev next
Definition
Coalescence of particles; growth; increase by the addition of particles. [R.] Sir W. Raleigh. "coalescence": The act or state of growing together, as similar parts; the act of uniting by natural affinity or attraction; the state of being united; union; concretion.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4072 The river, only a few hundred metres away, was a deluge: a vast muddy concrescence that tore through the valley in heaving waves and boiling eddies.
370 chrismal prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to or used in chrism. "chrism": 1. Olive oil mixed with balm and spices, consecrated by the bishop on Maundy Thursday, and used in the administration of baptism, confirmation, ordination, etc. 2. The same as Chrisom.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4151 Whatever the case, whether they discovered that peace or created it, the truth is that the man I am was born in those moments, as I stood near the flood sticks with my face lifted to the chrismal rain.
371 plangency prev next
Definition
The quality or state of being plangent; a beating sound. [R.] "plangent": Beating; dashing, as a wave. [R.] "The plangent wave." H. Taylor.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8338 Seconds later, the song We Are Family, by Sister Sledge, thumped out of the speakers behind our heads with numbing plangency Karla whooped for joy.
372 splendent prev next
Definition
1. Shining; glossy; beaming with light; lustrous; as, splendent planets; splendent metals. See the Note under 3d Luster, 4. 2. Very conspicuous; illustrious. "Great and splendent fortunes." Sir H. Wotton. "luster": One who lusts. A period of five years; a lustrum. Both of us have closed the tenth luster. Bolingbroke. 1. Brilliancy; splendor; brightness; glitter. The right mark and very true luster of the diamond. Sir T. More. The scorching sun was mounted high, In all its luster, to the noonday sky. Addison. Note: There is a tendency to limit the use of luster, in this sense, to the brightness of things which do not shine with their own light, or at least do not blaze or glow with heat. One speaks of the luster of a diamond, or of silk, or even of the stars, but not often now of the luster of the sun, a coal of fire, or the like. 2. Renown; splendor; distinction; glory. His ancestors continued about four hundred years, rather without obscurity than with any great luster. Sir H. Wotton. 3. A candlestick, chandelier, girandole, or the like, generally of an ornamental character. Pope. 4. (Min.) The appearance of the surface of a mineral as affected by, or dependent upon, peculiarities of its reflecting qualities. Note: The principal kinds of luster recognized are: metallic, adamantine, vitreous, resinous, greasy, pearly, and silky. With respect to intensity, luster is characterized as splendent, shining, glistening, glimmering, and dull. 5. A substance which imparts luster to a surface, as plumbago and some of the glazes. 6. A fabric of wool and cotton with a lustrous surface, -- used for women's dresses. Luster ware, earthenware decorated by applying to the glazing metallic oxides, which acquire brilliancy in the process of baking. To make lustrous. [R. & Poetic] Flooded and lustered with her loosened gold. Lowell. "lustrous": Bright; shining; luminous. " Good sparks and lustrous." Shak. -- Lus"trous*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11253 Then, horizon-wide, the rain clouds regrouped, and slowly sealed the splendent circle of sky, herding one against another until heaven matched the rolling sea with dark, watery waves of cloud.
373 revulsive prev next
Definition
Causing, or tending to, revulsion. That which causes revulsion; specifically (Med.), a revulsive remedy or agent. "revulsion": 1. A strong pulling or drawing back; withdrawal. "Revulsions and pullbacks." SSir T. Brovne. 2. A sudden reaction; a sudden and complete change; -- applied to the feelings. A sudden and violent revulsion of feeling, both in the Parliament and the country, followed. Macaulay. 3. (Med.) The act of turning or diverting any disease from one part of the body to another. It resembles derivation, but is usually applied to a more active form of counter irritation.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12795 Squatting in the queue, I noticed with a revulsive flinch that tiny insects, lice, were crawling in the hair of the man in front of me.
374 rictal prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to the rictus; as, rictal bristles. "rictus": The gape of the mouth, as of birds; -- often resricted to the corners of the mouth.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18009 His dead eyes were half open, and his lips were pulled back slightly from his teeth in a rictal smile.
375 enravishing prev next
Definition  (enravish)
To transport with delight; to enrapture; to fascinate. Spenser. "enrapture": To transport with pleasure; to delight beyond measure; to enravish. Shenstone.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18691 Then suddenly they stamped their feet three times, and the musicians struck up a wild, enravishing rendition of that month’s most popular movie song.
376 susurrus prev next
Definition
The act of whispering; a whisper; a murmur. De Quincey. The soft susurrus and sighs of the branches. Longfellow.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18801 I sipped at a drink and smoked cigarettes in a silence so profound that I could hear the susurrus of the blindfold’s soft fabric rustle and slip between my fingers.
377 melliferous prev next
Definition
Producing honey.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20493 The faloodha was an indecently sweet concoction of white noodles, milk, rose flavours, and other melliferous syrups.
378 rupia prev next
Definition
An eruption upon the skin, consisting of vesicles with inflamed base and filled with serous, purulent, or bloody fluid, which dries up, forming a blackish crust. "blackish": Somewhat black. "purulent": Consisting of pus, or matter; partaking of the nature of pus; attended with suppuration; as, purulent inflammation. "serous": (a) Thin; watery; like serum; as the serous fluids. (b) Of or pertaining to serum; as, the serous glands, membranes, layers. See Serum. Serous membrane. (Anat.) See under Membrane.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24148 Sirf rupia.’ Not dollars.
379 snowslip prev next
Definition
A large mass or avalanche of snow which slips down the side of a mountain, etc.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25385 Somehow, Salman’s casual remark that we all blamed ourselves for not being with Khader when he died had shaken my frozen sorrowing free, and the slow, inexorable snowslip of its heartache began, right there and then.
380 heartgrief prev next
Definition
Heartache; sorrow. Milton.

Difficulty: 21.38
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25404 The heartgrief had already begun.
381 eyewateringly prev next
Definition  (eyewater)
A wash or lotion for application to the eyes.

Difficulty: 21.38
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Sen 26262 The smell of man-sweat, both fresh and fouled into the stitching of leather gloves and belts and turnbuckles, was so eyewateringly rancid that the gym was the only building in the city block that rats and cockroaches spurned.
382 canorous prev next
Definition
Melodious; musical. "Birds that are most canorous." Sir T. Browne. A long, lound, and canorous peal of laughter. De Quincey. "peal": A small salmon; a grilse; a sewin. [Prov. Eng.] To appeal. [Obs.] Spencer. 1. A loud sound, or a succession of loud sounds, as of bells, thunder, cannon, shouts, of a multitude, etc. "A fair peal of artillery." Hayward. Whether those peals of praise be his or no. Shak. And a deep thunder, peal on peal, afar. Byron. 2. A set of bells tuned to each other according to the diatonic scale; also, the changes rung on a set of bells. To ring a peal. See under Ring. 1. To utter or give out loud sounds. There let the pealing organ blow. Milton. 2. To resound; to echo. And the whole air pealed With the cheers of our men. Longfellow. 1. To utter or give forth loudly; to cause to give out loud sounds; to noise abroad. The warrior's name, Though pealed and chimed on all the tongues of fame. J. Barlow. 2. To assail with noise or loud sounds. Nor was his ear less pealed. Milton. 3. To pour out. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

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Sen 27371 Seeing our little procession as an opportunity to practise their music on the march, they swung in behind us and struck up a rousing, if not particularly canorous, version of a popular devotional song.
383 dynamique prev next

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Sen 1675 But how many of these people have real power, real destiny, real dynamique for their place, and their time, and the lives of thousands of people?
384 phul prev next

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Sen 2034 What is phul gobhi and bhindi?’
385 nubbled prev next
Definition  (nubble)
To beat or bruise with the fist. [Obs.] Ainsworth.

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Sen 2390 His hair was very short, exposing ears as large and nubbled as a boxer’s practice mitts.
386 chudd prev next

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Sen 2736 ‘You’re such a chudd, Vikkie,’ she said, taking a place opposite him and on my right side.
387 concatenate prev next
Definition
To link together; to unite in a series or chain, as things depending on one another. This all things friendly will concatenate. Dr. H. More

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Sen 3267 When I understood that, a great many of the characteristically perplexing aspects of public life became comprehensible: from the acceptance of sprawling slums by city authorities, to the freedom that cows had to roam at random in the midst of traffic; from the toleration of beggars on the streets, to the concatenate complexity of the bureaucracies; and from the gorgeous, unashamed escapism of Bollywood movies, to the accommodation of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Tibet, Iran, Afghanistan, Africa, and Bangladesh, in a country that was already too crowded with sorrows and needs of its own.
388 hoshiyaar prev next

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Sen 6377 ‘Bahut hoshiyaar,’ he replied.
389 pleeeeeeese prev next

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Sen 7072 ‘Oh, pleeeeeeese,’ Prabaker wheedled.
390 munta prev next

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Sen 8330 ‘Ha, munta!’ he said, laughing and accepting it happily.
391 aphoristic prev next
Definition
In the form of, or of the nature of, an aphorism; in the form of short, unconnected sentences; as, an aphoristic style. The method of the book is aphoristic. De Quincey. "aphorism": A comprehensive maxim or principle expressed in a few words; a sharply defined sentence relating to abstract truth rather than to practical matters. The first aphorism of Hippocrates is, "Life is short, and the art is long." Fleming. Syn. -- Axiom; maxim; adage; proverb; apothegm; saying; saw; truism; dictum. See Axiom.

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Sen 10308 I was surprised and perhaps a little shocked to see that she, too, had remembered the phrase, and that she’d copied it down there—even improving it, with more aphoristic roundness than the impromptu remark had possessed.
392 rappled prev next

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Sen 11615 A sprinkling shower of rain rappled on the canvas awning overhead.
393 acquantainces prev next

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Sen 15281 After a bout of bartering that invoked an august assembly of deities from at least three religions, and incorporated spirited, carnal references to the sisters of our respective friends and acquantainces, a dealer agreed to hire out an Enfield Bullet motorcycle for a reasonable rental.
394 misappropriators prev next
Definition  (appropriator)
1. One who appropriates. 2. (Law) A spiritual corporation possessed of an appropriated benefice; also, an impropriator. "benefice": 1. A favor or benefit. [Obs.] Baxter. 2. (Feudal Law) An estate in lands; a fief. Note: Such an estate was granted at first for life only, and held on the mere good pleasure of the donor; but afterward, becoming hereditary, it received the appellation of fief, and the term benefice became appropriated to church livings. 3. An ecclesiastical living and church preferment, as in the Church of England; a church endowed with a revenue for the maintenance of divine service. See Advowson. Note: All church preferments are called benefices, except bishoprics, which are called dignities. But, ordinarily, the term dignity is applied to bishoprics, deaneries, archdeaconries, and prebendaryships; benefice to parsonages, vicarages, and donatives. To endow with a benefice. Note: [Commonly in the past participle.] "impropriator": One who impropriates; specifically, a layman in possession of church property.

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Sen 17418 Abdul Ghani, propelled by the purest amoral spirit of market forces, serviced the needs of generals, mercenaries, misappropriators of public funds, and murderous interrogators without a hint of censure or dismay.
395 illai prev next

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Sen 21443 Inalillahey wa ina illai hi rajiaon
396 aggrandised prev next

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Sen 25018 And he was generous: it was almost impossible to pay a bill in his company—not, as some thought, because he aggrandised himself with the gesture, but rather because it was his instinct to give and to share.
397 flourmill prev next

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Sen 26475 I led the way back through the converted lane and into a chai shop where workers from a local flourmill and bakery were resting between shifts.
398 moorage prev next
Definition
A place for mooring. "mooring": 1. The act of confining a ship to a particular place, by means of anchors or fastenings. 2. That which serves to confine a ship to a place, as anchors, cables, bridles, etc. 3. pl. The place or condition of a ship thus confined. And the tossed bark in moorings swings. Moore. Mooring block (Naut.), a heavy block of cast iron sometimes used as an anchor for mooring vessels.

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Sen 1716 On our left was a vast segment of the world’s largest harbour, the dark water starred by the moorage lights of a hundred ships at anchor.
399 chehra prev next

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Sen 2045 ‘Tell me, what am I calling chehra, munh, and dil?’
400 dishevelment prev next

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Sen 2166 That dishevelment combined with his theatrical gestures and persistent shouting to present a spectacle that seemed to be more enthralling, for the crowd of onlookers, than the wreckage of the cars.
401 firstaid prev next

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Sen 5039 I was sure those threads—the training, the nickname, the firstaid kit, the work as unofficial doctor in the slum—were all connected in some way that was more than accident or coincidence.
402 rabdi prev next

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Sen 7699 Several young women came to clear the used banana leaves away, and lay out small dishes of sweet rabdi dessert for us.
403 bhari prev next

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Sen 9023 The—how do you say it, bhari vazan?’
404 articulacy prev next

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Sen 9055 Each man had his own opinion and level of articulacy yet I had the clear impression that Khaderbhai’s contribution was usually the last word.
405 attoseconds prev next

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Sen 14592 And the first moments after that great expansion, from the first fractions of attoseconds, the universe was like a rich soup made out of simple bits of things.
406 arrestwarrants prev next

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Sen 17352 Some of the passports were flagged because international arrestwarrants had been issued for the original owners.
407 prankish prev next
Definition
Full of pranks; frolicsome. "frolicsome": Full of gayety and mirth; given to pranks; sportive. Old England, who takes a frolicsome brain fever once every two or three years, for the benefit of her doctors. Sir W. Scott. -- Frol"ic*some*ly, adv. -- Frol"ic*some*ness, n.

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Sen 20420 The irony was that we were, in fact, similarly dour and serious men, but his grim severity was so stark that it roused me from my own solemnity, and provoked a childish, prankish desire to mock him.
408 resemblant prev next
Definition
Having or exhibiting resemblance; resembling. [R.] Gower.

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Sen 20637 Side streets and lateral avenues revealed that the duplication of those crude, resemblant structures extended all the way to the horizon of sight, on either side of the main road.
409 kwatta prev next

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Sen 20862 The name of the city, Quetta, was derived from the Pashto word kwatta, meaning fort.
410 sonancies prev next
Definition  (sonance)
1. A sound; a tune; as, to sound the tucket sonance. [Obs.] Shak. 2. The quality or state of being sonant. "tucket": A slight flourish on a trumpet; a fanfare. [Obs.] Tucket sonance, the sound of the tucket. [Obs.] Let the trumpets sound The tucket sonance and the note to mount. Shak. A steak; a collop. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor. "sonant": 1. Of or pertaining to sound; sounding. 2. (Phonetics) Uttered, as an element of speech, with tone or proper vocal sound, as distinguished from mere breath sound; intonated; voiced; tonic; the opposite of nonvocal, or surd; -- sid of the vowels, semivowels, liquids, and nasals, and particularly of the consonants b, d, g hard, v, etc., as compared with their cognates p, t, k, f, etc., which are called nonvocal, surd, or aspirate. -- n. A sonant letter.

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Sen 25876 I heard his voice passing from his chest to mine like ocean sonancies, sounding and resounding, wave on wave through shores of tight-wet sand at night.
411 vicinal prev next
Definition
Near; vicine. T. Warton. Vicinal planes (Min.), subordinate planes on a crystal, which are very near to the fundamental planes in angles, and sometimes take their place. They have in general very complex symbols. "vicine": Near; neighboring; vicinal. [R.] Glanvill. An alkaloid ex tracted from the seeds of the vetch (Vicia sativa) as a white crystalline substance.

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Sen 27183 They couldn’t understand that every time I entered the slum I felt the urge to let go and surrender to a simpler, poorer life that was yet richer in respect, and love, and a vicinal connectedness to the surrounding sea of human hearts.
412 suffusion prev next
Definition
1. The act or process of suffusing, or state of being suffused; an overspreading. To those that have the jaundice, or like suffusion of eyes, objects appear of that color. Ray. 2. That with which a thing is suffused. 3. (Zoöl.) A blending of one color into another; the spreading of one color over another, as on the feathers of birds.

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Sen 918 Within seconds, a suffusion of aromatic sweetnesses possessed my mouth.
413 verruckt prev next

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Sen 1229 Total verruckt, I tell you.
414 erwollte prev next

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Sen 1233 Naja, ten minutes in the room and erwollte auf der Klamotten kommen.
415 mosambi prev next

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Sen 1368 Rich fruits used in desserts and juices—paw paw, papaya, custard apples, mosambi, grapes, watermelon, banana, santra, and, in the season, four varieties of mango—were displayed across the whole surface of one wall in gorgeous abundance.
416 tumid prev next
Definition
1. Swelled, enlarged, or distended; as, a tumid leg; tumid flesh. 2. Rising above the level; protuberant. So high as heaved the tumid hills. Milton. 3. Swelling in sound or sense; pompous; puffy; inflated; bombastic; falsely sublime; turgid; as, a tumid expression; a tumid style. -- Tu"mid*ly, adv. -- Tu"mid*ness, n. "turgid": 1. Distended beyond the natural state by some internal agent or expansive force; swelled; swollen; bloated; inflated; tumid; -- especially applied to an enlarged part of the body; as, a turgid limb; turgid fruit. A bladder . . . held near the fire grew turgid. Boyle. 2. Swelling in style or language; vainly ostentatious; bombastic; pompous; as, a turgid style of speaking. -- Tur"gid*ly, adv. -- Tur"gid*ness, n. "bombastic": Characterized by bombast; highsounding; inflated. -- Bom*bas"tic*al*ly, adv. A theatrical, bombastic, windy phraseology. Burke. Syn. -- Turgid; tumid; pompous; grandiloquent. "protuberant": Prominent, or excessively prominent; bulging beyond the surrounding or adjacent surface; swelling; as, a protuberant joint; a protuberant eye. -- Pro*tu"ber*ant*ly, adv.

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Sen 4074 And still the tumid river grew, consuming new land with every thumping heartbeat.
417 plangent prev next
Definition
Beating; dashing, as a wave. [R.] "The plangent wave." H. Taylor.

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Sen 4407 I lay back on the bed, in the dark, listening to the sounds of the street that rose to my open window: the paanwalla, calling customers to the delights of his aromatic morsels; the watermelon man, piercing the warm, humid night with his plangent cry; a street acrobat, shouting through his sweaty exertions for a crowd of tourists; and music, always music.
418 redrimmed prev next

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Sen 10681 And as we stared at one another in that yearning silence, tears began to fill the redrimmed cups of his eyes.
419 sermoner prev next
Definition
A preacher; a sermonizer. [Derogative or Jocose.] Thackeray. "jocose": Given to jokes and jesting; containing a joke, or abounding in jokes; merry; sportive; humorous. To quit their austerity and be jocose and pleasant with an adversary. Shaftesbury. All . . . jocose or comical airs should be excluded. I. Watts. Syn. -- Jocular; facetious; witty; merry; pleasant; waggish; sportive; funny; comical. -- Jo*cose"ly, adv. -- Jo*cose"ness, n. Spondanus imagines that Ulysses may possibly speak jocosely, but in truth Ulysses never behaves with levity. Broome. He must beware lest his letter should contain anything like jocoseness; since jesting is incompatible with a holy and serious life. Buckle. "derogative": Derogatory. -- De*rog"a*tive*ly, adv. [R.] Sir T. Browne. "sermonizer": One who sermonizes.

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Sen 14551 What emerged was a tone of voice that resonated with the hypnotic piety of a sermoner, reading from the Koran, even as he talked of his most profitable crimes.
420 apodictic prev next
Definition
Self-evident; intuitively true; evident beyond contradiction. Brougham. Sir Wm. Hamilton. Same as Apodeictic. "apodeictic": Self-evident; intuitively true; evident beyond contradiction. Brougham. Sir Wm. Hamilton. "brougham": A light, close carriage, with seats inside for two or four, and the fore wheels so arranged as to turn short. "intuitively": In an intuitive manner.

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Sen 14786 There was such apodictic certitude in Khader’s every pronouncement, such a decisive, incontrovertible assurance in the man, that it informed and composed even his stillnesses and silences.
421 jounced prev next
Definition  (jounce)
To jolt; to shake, especially by rough riding or by driving over obstructions. A jolt; a shake; a hard trot.

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Sen 18504 As the streets unwound the tangled morning coil of sound, colour, and commotion, I took a cab and jounced through reckless traffic to the Arthur Road Prison.
422 camarilla prev next
Definition
1. The private audience chamber of a king. 2. A company of secret and irresponsible advisers, as of a king; a cabal or clique.

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Sen 20468 No less industrious in their pursuit of a deal with the camarilla of generals were the illegals—the black marketeers, gunrunners, freebooters, and mercenaries.
423 meditational prev next

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Sen 20651 An ancient hajji attended to the shoes while he muttered his meditational zikkir.
424 viridescent prev next
Definition
Slightly green; greenish. "greenish": Somewhat green; having a tinge of green; as, a greenish yellow. -- Green"ish*ness, n.

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Sen 21470 The impact of those tender, viridescent carpets between the endlessly undulating crocodile’s back of naked stone mountains was far greater than it might’ve been in a more fertile and equable landscape.
425 ululation prev next
Definition
A howling, as of a dog or wolf; a wailing. He may fright others with his ululation. Wither.

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Sen 21478 There was a chilling ululation from high above—men’s voices raised in an imitation of the high-pitched, warbling wail of tribal women—and a sudden tumble of small boulders as a little avalanche spilled into the canyon before us.
426 rahmatullah prev next

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Sen 21510 Thus the greeting Asalaam aleikum, Peace be with you, should’ve been answered, at the very least, with Wa aleikum salaam wa rahmatullah, And with you be peace and the compassion of Allah.
427 crickle prev next

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Sen 23191 At midnight, with hunger and fear prodding us awake, we all jumped at a little crickle of sound in the darkness.
428 minelayers prev next

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Sen 24056 When we fell, Massoud’s men pursued the fleeing enemy all the way around the mountain and into the returning company of minelayers.
429 kinesis prev next

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Sen 24105 I felt drunk on the sound and colour and gorgeous flowing kinesis of the island city.
430 placidity prev next
Definition
The quality or state of being placid; calmness; serenity. Hawthorne.

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Sen 129 There was a definitive, bovine placidity in his face and posture.
431 gobhi prev next

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Sen 2034 What is phul gobhi and bhindi?’
432 indigence prev next
Definition
The condition of being indigent; want of estate, or means of comfortable subsistence; penury; poverty; as, helpless, indigence. Cowper. Syn. -- Poverty; penury; destitution; want; need; privation; lack. See Poverty. "subsistence": 1. Real being; existence. Not only the things had subsistence, but the very images were of some creatures existing. Stillingfleet. 2. Inherency; as, the subsistence of qualities in bodies. 3. That which furnishes support to animal life; means of support; provisions, or that which produces provisions; livelihood; as, a meager subsistence. His viceroy could only propose to himself a comfortable subsistence out of the plunder of his province. Addison. 4. (Theol.) Same as Hypostasis, 2. Hooker. "privation": 1. The act of depriving, or taking away; hence, the depriving of rank or office; degradation in rank; deprivation. Bacon. 2. The state of being deprived or destitute of something, especially of something required or desired; destitution; need; as, to undergo severe privations. 3. The condition of being absent; absence; negation. Evil will be known by consequence, as being only a privation, or absence, of good. South. Privation mere of light and absent day. Milton. "indigent": 1. Wanting; void; free; destitute; -- used with of. [Obs.] Bacon. 2. Destitute of property or means of comfortable subsistence; needy; poor; in want; necessitous. Indigent faint souls past corporal toil. Shak. Charity consists in relieving the indigent. Addison. "penury": 1. Absence of resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme poverty; destitution. "A penury of military forces." Bacon. They were exposed to hardship and penury. Sprat. It arises in neither from penury of thought. Landor. 2. Penuriousness; miserliness. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor. "destitution": The state of being deprived of anything; the state or condition of being destitute, needy, or without resources; deficiency; lack; extreme poverty; utter want; as, the inundation caused general destitution.

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Sen 2291 The women were more conspicuously bejewelled, despite the indigence of the quarter, and what those jewels lacked in money’s worth was found in the extravagance of their design.
433 kaffiyehs prev next

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Sen 2467 Some were Arabs, dressed in loose, cotton robes and kaffiyehs.
434 propitiation prev next
Definition
1. The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person; the act of making propitious. 2. (Theol.) That which propitiates; atonement or atoning sacrifice; specifically, the influence or effects of the death of Christ in appeasing the divine justice, and conciliating the divine favor. He [Jesus Christ] is the propitiation for our sins. 1 John ii. 2. "propitious": 1. Convenient; auspicious; favorable; kind; as, a propitious season; a propitious breeze. 2. Hence, kind; gracious; merciful; helpful; -- said of a person or a divinity. Milton. And now t' assuage the force of this new flame, And make thee [Love] more propitious in my need. Spenser. Syn. -- Auspicious; favorable; kind. -- Propitious, Auspicious. Auspicious (from the ancient idea of auspices, or omens) denotes "indicative of success," or "favored by incidental occurrences;" as, an auspicious opening; an auspicious event. Propitious denotes that which efficaciously protect us in some undertaking, speeds our exertions, and decides our success; as, propitious gales; propitious influences. -- Pro*pi"tious*ly, adv. -- Pro*pi"tious*ness, n.

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Sen 4554 And there were criminals—thieves, murderers, major mafia figures, and even former warlords—who sought expiation, or propitiation, in the endless agonies of the vow.
435 fortuity prev next
Definition
Accident; chance; casualty. D. Forbes (1750).

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Sen 7020 It was his habit or fortuity, always, to find the most irritating moments to offer them.
436 nimbu prev next

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Sen 8502 I took a glass and drank some of the nimbu pani.
437 ratri prev next

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Sen 9184 ‘Shuba ratri, Lin,’ he grinned.
438 assiduity prev next
Definition
1. Constant or close application or attention, particularly to some business or enterprise; diligence. I have, with much pains and assiduity, qualified myself for a nomenclator. Addison. 2. Studied and persevering attention to a person; -- usually in the plural. "nomenclator": 1. One who calls persons or things by their names. Note: In Rome, candidates for office were attended each by a nomenclator, who informed the candidate of the names of the persons whom they met and whose votes it was desirable to solicit. 2. One who gives names to things, or who settles and adjusts the nomenclature of any art or science; also, a list or vocabulary of technical names. "persevering": Characterized by perseverance; persistent. -- Per`se*ver"ing*ly, adv.

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Sen 12841 It was the work of several hours, and I practised it with fanatical assiduity, every morning that I spent in Arthur Road Prison, but I never felt clean there.
439 clangour prev next

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Sen 14579 Factories that produced the ice and processed the fish added their industrious clangour to the wailing of auctioneers and salesmen.
440 proselytising prev next

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Sen 15493 He was just forty-six years old, but his spectacular proselytising missions to India, and what was then called the Far East, established his enduring legend.
441 longbeards prev next

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Sen 20620 Those longbeards were out of their minds at the way the Russians were changing the country—letting women work, and go to university, and get around in public without the full burkha covering.
442 terza prev next

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Sen 20870 And so it was that I rode during the day, acclimatising myself to the thinner air above five thousand feet, and at night read the diaries and journals of long-dead explorers, extinct editions of Greek classics, eccentrically annotated volumes of Shakespeare, and a dizzyingly passionate terza rima translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy.
443 riverscapes prev next

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Sen 21075 The tracks wound through deep gorges and crossed riverscapes of astounding beauty.
444 fervency prev next
Definition
The state of being fervent or warm; ardor; warmth of feeling or devotion; eagerness. When you pray, let it be with attention, with fervency, and with perseverance. Wake. "ardor": 1. Heat, in a literal sense; as, the ardor of the sun's rays. 2. Warmth or heat of passion or affection; eagerness; zeal; as, he pursues study with ardor; the fought with ardor; martial ardor. 3. pl. Bright and effulgent spirits; seraphim. [Thus used by Milton.] Syn. -- Fervor; warmth; eagerness. See Fervor.

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Sen 24101 And an hour after dawn, eight months after we left her, we walked into the deep heat and frantic, toiling fervency of my beloved Bombay.
445 enwrapping prev next
Definition  (enwrap)
To envelop. See Inwrap. "inwrap": 1. To cover by wrapping; to involve; to infold; as, to inwrap in a cloak, in smoke, etc. 2. To involve, as in difficulty or perplexity; to perplex. [R.] Bp. Hall. "envelop": To put a covering about; to wrap up or in; to inclose within a case, wrapper, integument or the like; to surround entirely; as, to envelop goods or a letter; the fog envelops a ship. Nocturnal shades this world envelop. J. Philips. 1. That which envelops, wraps up, encases, or surrounds; a wrapper; an inclosing cover; esp., the cover or wrapper of a document, as of a letter. 2. (Astron.) The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; -- called also coma. 3. (Fort.) A work of earth, in the form of a single parapet or of a small rampart. It is sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it. Wilhelm. 4. (Geom.) A curve or surface which is tangent to each member of a system of curves or surfaces, the form and position of the members of the system being allowed to vary according to some continuous law. Thus, any curve is the envelope of its tangents. push the envelope. It is used to refer to the maximum performance available at the current state of the technology, and therefore refers to a class of machines in general, not a specific machine. push the envelope Increase the capability of some type of machine or system; -- usu. by technological development.

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Sen 24588 And in the stiff, enwrapping arms of a throne-like chair, her face twisted in a manic stare, was Madame Zhou.
446 decolourised prev next

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Sen 27233 Unadorned and decolourised, the blue men seemed spiritless, and much smaller and slighter than the fantastic beings I’d first encountered in the slum.
447 ministrant prev next
Definition
Performing service as a minister; attendant on service; acting under command; subordinate. "Princedoms and dominations ministrant." Milton. -- n. One who ministers.

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Sen 27270 He was also the divine ministrant of writers.
448 politique prev next

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Sen 1531 Perhaps their mode and their politique is the future everywhere.’
449 anonyme prev next

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Sen 1677 Four people in this room with power, and the rest are like the rest of the people everywhere: powerless, sleepers in the dream, anonyme.
450 mythologised prev next

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Sen 5467 He was respected and mythologised by the poor.
451 fisherwomen prev next

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Sen 6903 Fishermen and fisherwomen were coming home from Sassoon Dock, bringing baskets of sea-smell with them.
452 dispirit prev next
Definition
1. To deprive of cheerful spirits; to depress the spirits of; to dishearten; to discourage. Not dispirited with my afflictions. Dryden. He has dispirited himself by a debauch. Collier. 2. To distill or infuse the spirit of. [Obs. or R.] This makes a man master of his learning, and dispirits the book into the scholar. Fuller. Syn. -- To dishearten; discourage; deject; damp; depress; cast down; intimidate; daunt; cow. "daunt": 1. To overcome; to conquer. [Obs.] 2. To repress or subdue the courage of; to check by fear of danger; to cow; to intimidate; to dishearten. Some presences daunt and discourage us. Glanvill. Syn. -- To dismay; appall. See Dismay. "debauch": To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce; as, to debauch one's self by intemperance; to debauch a woman; to debauch an army. Learning not debauched by ambition. Burke. A man must have got his conscience thoroughly debauched and hardened before he can arrive to the height of sin. South. Her pride debauched her judgment and her eyes. Cowley. 1. Excess in eating or drinking; intemperance; drunkenness; lewdness; debauchery. The first physicians by debauch were made. Dryden. 2. An act or occasion of debauchery. Silenus, from his night's debauch, Fatigued and sick. Cowley. "dishearten": To discourage; to deprive of courage and hope; to depress the spirits of; to deject. Regiments . . . utterly disorganized and disheartened. Macaulay. Syn. -- To dispirit; discourage; depress; deject; deter; terrify. "dispirited": Depressed in spirits; disheartened; daunted. -- Dis*pir"it*ed*ly, adv. -- Dis*pir"it*ed, n. "distill": 1. To drop; to fall in drops; to trickle. Soft showers distilled, and suns grew warm in vain. Pope. 2. To flow gently, or in a small stream. The Euphrates distilleth out of the mountains of Armenia. Sir W. Raleigh. 3. To practice the art of distillation. Shak. 1. To let fall or send down in drops. Or o'er the glebe distill the kindly rain. Pope. The dew which on the tender grass The evening had distilled. Drayton. 2. To obtain by distillation; to extract by distillation, as spirits, essential oil, etc.; to rectify; as, to distill brandy from wine; to distill alcoholic spirits from grain; to distill essential oils from flowers, etc.; to distill fresh water from sea water. "Distilling odors on me." Tennyson. 3. To subject to distillation; as, to distill molasses in making rum; to distill barley, rye, corn, etc. 4. To dissolve or melt. [R.] Swords by the lightning's subtle force distilled. Addison. "infuse": 1. To pour in, as a liquid; to pour (into or upon); to shed. That strong Circean liquor cease to infuse. Denham. 2. To instill, as principles or qualities; to introduce. That souls of animals infuse themselves Into the trunks of men. Shak. Why should he desire to have qualities infused into his son which himself never possessd Swift. 3. To inspire; to inspirit or animate; to fill; -- followed by with. Infuse his breast with magnanimity. Shak. Infusing him with self and vain conceit. Shak. 4. To steep in water or other fluid without boiling, for the propose of extracting medicinal qualities; to soak. One scruple of dried leaves is infused in ten ounces of warm water. Coxe. 5. To make an infusion with, as an ingredient; to tincture; to saturate. [R.] Bacon. Infusion. [Obs.] Spenser. "deject": 1. To cast down. [Obs. or Archaic] Christ dejected himself even unto the hells. Udall. Sometimes she dejects her eyes in a seeming civility; and many mistake in her a cunning for a modest look. Fuller. 2. To cast down the spirits of; to dispirit; to discourage; to dishearten. Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind. Pope. Dejected. [Obs.]

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Sen 7217 Still, the war of the shopkeepers didn’t dispirit the slum-dwellers.
453 brotherfuckers prev next

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Sen 9495 Our fellows, they called them brotherfuckers.
454 religionists prev next
Definition  (religionist)
One earnestly devoted or attached to a religion; a religious zealot. The chief actors on one side were, and were to be, the Puritan religionists. Palfrey. It might be that an Antinomian, a Quaker, or other heterodoreligionists, was to be scourged out of the town. Hawthorne. "palfrey": 1. A saddle horse for the road, or for state occasions, as distinguished from a war horse. Chaucer. 2. A small saddle horse for ladies. Spenser. Call the host and bid him bring Charger and palfrey. Tennyson. "antinomian": Of or pertaining to the Antinomians; opposed to the doctrine that the moral law is obligatory. One who maintains that, under the gospel dispensation, the moral law is of no use or obligation, but that faith alone is necessary to salvation. The sect of Antinomians originated with John Agricola, in Germany, about the year 1535. Mosheim. "zealot": One who is zealous; one who engages warmly in any cause, and pursues his object with earnestness and ardor; especially, one who is overzealous, or carried away by his zeal; one absorbed in devotion to anything; an enthusiast; a fanatical partisan. Zealots for the one [tradition] were in hostile array against zealots for the other. Sir J. Stephen. In Ayrshire, Clydesdale, Nithisdale, Annandale, every parish was visited by these turbulent zealots. Macaulay.

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Sen 9921 Violent confrontations between religionists were common enough.
455 cholerae prev next

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Sen 11484 The vibrio cholerae bacterium spreads from contaminated water and lodges itself in the small intestine, producing the fever, diarrhoea, and vomiting that cause dehydration and death.
456 involuted prev next
Definition
1. (Bot.) Rolled inward from the edges; -- said of leaves in vernation, or of the petals of flowers in æstivation. Gray. 2. (Zoöl.) (a) Turned inward at the margin, as the exterior lip of the Cyprea. (b) Rolled inward spirally. "vernation": The arrangement of the leaves within the leaf bud, as regards their folding, coiling, rolling, etc.; prefoliation. VERNER'S LAW Ver"ner's law. (Philol.) A statement, propounded by the Danish philologist Karl Verner in 1875, which explains certain apparent exceptions to Grimm's law by the original position of the accent. Primitive Indo-European k, t, p, became first in Teutonic h, th, f, and appear without further change in old Teutonic, if the accent rested on the preceding syllable; but these sounds became voiced and produced g, d, b, if the accent was originally on a different syllable. Similarly s either remained unchanged, or it became z and later r. Example: Skt. sapta (accent on ultima), Gr. 'e`pta, Gothic sibun (seven). Examples in English are dead by the side of death, to rise and to rear. "spirally": In a spiral form, manner, or direction.

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Sen 16689 I liked the week before monsoon: the tension and excitement I saw in others was like the involuted, emotional disquiet that I felt almost all the time.
457 dysphasic prev next

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Sen 19869 Three months of utter silence and soul-fog had distorted my speech with dysphasic lapses and creaking fumbles.
458 tensity prev next
Definition
The quality or state of being tense, or strained to stiffness; tension; tenseness. "stiffness": The quality or state of being stiff; as, the stiffness of cloth or of paste; stiffness of manner; stiffness of character. The vices of old age have the stiffness of it too. South.

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Sen 24395 He held on to me so tightly, and with such rigid tensity, that it was difficult to steer the bike.
459 impassivity prev next
Definition
The quality of being insusceptible of feeling, pain, or suffering; impassiveness. "insusceptible": Not susceptible; not capable of being moved, affected, or impressed; that can not feel, receive, or admit; as, a limb insusceptible of pain; a heart insusceptible of pity; a mind insusceptible to flattery. -- In`sus*cep`ti*bly adv.

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Sen 619 Without understanding why, I knew beyond question that a lot of people would mistake her pride for arrogance, and confuse her confidence with impassivity.
460 sja prev next

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Sen 1237 Gibt’sja nicht.
461 overhung prev next
Definition
1. Covered over; ornamented with hangings. Carlyle. 2. Suspended from above or from the top. Overhung door, a sliding door, suspended door, suspended from the top, as upon rollers.

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Sen 2136 On a footpath nearby, we sat beneath a fringe of hawthorn leaves that overhung a fence of wrought-iron spears, and inspected one another for injuries.
462 chutias prev next

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Sen 2767 So many Indian guys are chutias, yaar.
463 craftworks prev next

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Sen 4742 It was filled to three levels with shops, and displays of jewels, silks, carpets, and intricate craftworks.
464 chutia prev next

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Sen 9313 Good you have pains, Ameer, you chutia.
465 forepaws prev next

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Sen 10492 I saw its forepaws slip and slide beneath it with the energy of its scrambling turn, and then gouge out a purchase on the dusty track for the rush and spring.
466 emaciation prev next
Definition
1. The act of making very lean. 2. The state of being emaciated or reduced to excessive leanness; an excessively lean condition. "leanness": The condition or quality of being lean.

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Sen 13407 ‘But how do you know him?’ I asked, still staring with fascinated horror at my own torture and emaciation.
467 infatuates prev next
Definition  (infatuate)
Infatuated. Bp. Hall. 1. To make foolish; to affect with folly; to weaken the intellectual powers of, or to deprive of sound judgment. The judgment of God will be very visible in infatuating a people . . . ripe and prepared for destruction. Clarendon. 2. To inspire with a foolish and extravagant passion; as, to be infatuated with gaming. The people are . . . infatuated with the notion. Addison. "clarendon": A style of type having a narrow and heave face. It is made in all sizes. Note: This line is in nonpareil Clarendon.

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Sen 17135 Some foreigners I’d dealt with had told me that they loathed the kaleidoscopic turmoil of musical numbers, bursting stochastically between weeping mothers, sighing infatuates, and brawling villains.
468 somnolency prev next
Definition
Sleepiness; drowsiness; inclination to sleep. "drowsiness": State of being drowsy. Milton. "sleepiness": The quality or state of being sleepy.

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Sen 19388 Thoughts drift like ocean weeds and vanish in the distant, grey somnolency, unperceived and indeterminable.
469 shirtfront prev next

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Sen 928 ‘No problem this shirt,’ Prabaker frowned, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, and smearing the blood-red fluid deeper into my shirtfront with vigorously ineffective rubbing.
470 tief prev next

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Sen 1238 And later, when I went to the bathroom for a little sniff of cokes, I came back to see daβ er seinen Schwanz ganz tief in einer meiner Schuhe hat!
471 santra prev next

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Sen 1368 Rich fruits used in desserts and juices—paw paw, papaya, custard apples, mosambi, grapes, watermelon, banana, santra, and, in the season, four varieties of mango—were displayed across the whole surface of one wall in gorgeous abundance.
472 bailie prev next
Definition
An officer in Scotland, whose office formerly corresponded to that of sheriff, but now corresponds to that of an English alderman.

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Sen 3585 It seemed to me that the Indian ox, known as the bailie, was surely the slowest harness animal in the world.
473 dispersements prev next

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Sen 4830 Slums are planless, organic dispersements.
474 morchas prev next

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Sen 14345 If there’s morchas or riots, it might not be so easy to get around.’
475 computerise prev next

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Sen 14894 When I’d learned how the gold-smuggling operation worked, I suggested that Khader’s agency should computerise its files, and maintain a database on the contract workers who’d successfully completed one mission for us.
476 ineradicable prev next
Definition
Incapable of being The bad seed thus sown was ineradicable. Ld. Lytton.

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Sen 15254 Her mouth was slack with exhaustion and fear, but her eyes were drawn to a distant, ineradicable hope.
477 lubricious prev next

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Sen 18706 And I, seeing for the first time how lubricious the uncensored versions of the dances were, gained a new appreciation of the subtler gestures I’d seen so often in the Hindi films.
478 excruciated prev next
Definition  (excruciate)
Excruciated; tortured. And here my heart long time excruciate. Chapman. To inflict agonizing pain upon; to torture; to torment greatly; to rack; as, to excruciate the heart or the body. Their thoughts, like devils, them excruciate. Drayton.

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Sen 20119 And in the temporary insanity of that skinned, excruciated world, we commit crimes.
479 feculence prev next
Definition
1. The state or quality of being feculent; muddiness; foulness. 2. That which is feculent; sediment; lees; dregs. "muddiness": 1. The condition or quality of being muddy; turbidness; foulness casued by mud, dirt, or sediment; as, the muddiness of a stream. 2. Obscurity or confusion, as in treatment of a subject; intellectual dullness. "feculent": Foul with extraneous or impure substances; abounding with sediment or excrementitious matter; muddy; thick; turbid. Both his hands most filthy feculent. Spenser. "foulness": The quality or condition of being foul.

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Sen 23200 Like poison pouring from an infected wound, the foulness seemed to squeeze outward through the pores of his skin from some feculence deep within.
480 voluptuary prev next
Definition
A voluptuous person; one who makes his physical enjoyment his chief care; one addicted to luxury, and the gratification of sensual appetites. A good-humored, but hard-hearted, voluptuary. Sir W. Scott. Syn. -- Sensualist; epicure. Voluptuous; luxurious. "epicure": 1. A follower of Epicurus; an Epicurean. [Obs.] Bacon. 2. One devoted to dainty or luxurious sensual enjoyments, esp. to the luxuries of the table. Syn. -- Voluptuary; sensualist. "sensualist": 1. One who is sensual; one given to the indulgence of the appetites or senses as the means of happiness. 2. One who holds to the doctrine of sensualism.

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Sen 24489 His mouth swelled in something like the old voluptuary smile, and he looked into my eyes with avid, hungering concentration.
481 plasmic prev next
Definition
Of, pertaining to, or connected with, plasma; plasmatic. A piece of DNA, usually circular, functioning as part of the genetic material of a cell, not integrated with the chromosome and replicating independently of the chromosome, but transferred, like the chromosome, to subsequent generations. In bacteria, plasmids often carry the genes for antibiotic resistance; they are exploited in genetic engineering as the vehicles for introduction of extraneous DNA into cells, to alter the genetic makeup of the cell. The cells thus altered may produce desirable proteins which are extracted and used; in the case of genetically altered plant cells, the altered cells may grow into complete plants with changed properties, as for example, increased resistance to disease. . "plasmatic": 1. Forming; shaping; molding. [Obs.] Dr. H. More. 2. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to plasma; having the character of plasma; containing, or conveying, plasma. "extraneous": Not belonging to, or dependent upon, a thing; without or beyond a thing; not essential or intrinsic; foreign; as, to separate gold from extraneous matter. Nothing is admitted extraneous from the indictment. Landor. -- Ex*tra"ne*ous*ly, adv.

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Sen 2138 The bleeding had already stopped, and it began to weep a clear, plasmic fluid.
482 refulgent prev next
Definition
Casting a bright light; radiant; brilliant; resplendent; shining; splendid; as, refulgent beams. -- Re*ful"gent*ly, adv. So conspicuous and refulgent a truth. Boyle. "resplendent": Shining with brilliant luster; very bright. -- Re*splen"dent*ly, adv. With royal arras and resplendent gold. Spenser.

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Sen 3253 He reflected for a moment with a frown of concentration, and then brightened again, his familiar smile refulgent in the dimly lit carriage.
483 indispensability prev next
Definition
Indispensableness. "indispensableness": The state or quality of being indispensable, or absolutely necessary. S. Clarke.

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Sen 6419 They seemed to want some response, some reaction, to the story of their sadness and skill, their cruel isolation and violent indispensability.
484 brutalising prev next

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Sen 7189 Their houses were the most primitive, and the conditions under which they lived the most harsh and brutalising, of all the millions of homeless people in Bombay.
485 kachori prev next

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Sen 18963 It began with a white soup entree made with lamb cooked in blanched-almond milk, worked its way through grilled chicken in a cayenne, cumin, and mango marinade, and ended, after many other side platters, with fruit salad, honey kachori balls, and kulfi ice cream.
486 baap prev next

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Sen 19045 ‘Arrey baap!’ Chandra Mehta puffed.
487 wickerwork prev next
Definition
A texture of osiers, twigs, or rods; articles made of such a texture.

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Sen 19730 The room I chose had a cot with a kapok mattress, a weathered carpet, a small cabinet with wickerwork doors, a lamp with a silk lampshade, and a large clay matka filled with water.
488 waul prev next
Definition
To cry as a cat; to squall; to wail. [Written also wawl.] The helpless infant, coming wauling and crying into the world. Sir W. Scott. "wawl": See Waul. Shak. "squall": A sudden violent gust of wind often attended with rain or snow. The gray skirts of a lifting squall. Tennyson. Black squall, a squall attended with dark, heavy clouds. -- Thick squall, a black squall accompanied by rain, hail, sleet, or snow. Totten. -- White squall, a squall which comes unexpectedly, without being marked in its approach by the clouds. Totten. To cry out; to scream or cry violently, as a woman frightened, or a child in anger or distress; as, the infant squalled. A loud scream; a harsh cry. There oft are heard the notes of infant woe, -The short, thick sob, loud scream, and shriller squall. Pope.

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Sen 24739 Rajan’s brother, the one with the knife, let out that blood-numbing waul and ran at Didier, who swung his pistol round without hesitation and shot the man in the groin, near the hip.
489 discomfiting prev next
Definition  (comfit)
A dry sweetmeat; any kind of fruit, root, or seed preserved with sugar and dried; a confection. To preserve dry with sugar. The fruit which does so quickly waste, . . . Thou comfitest in sweets to make it last. Cowley. "sweetmeat": 1. Fruit preserved with sugar, as peaches, pears, melons, nuts, orange peel, etc.; -- usually in the plural; a confect; a confection. 2. The paint used in making patent leather. 3. (Zoöl.) A boat shell (Crepidula fornicata) of the American coast. [Local, U.S.] "confection": 1. A composition of different materials. [Obs.] A new confection of mold. Bacon. 2. A preparation of fruits or roots, etc., with sugar; a sweetmeat. Certain confections . . . are like to candied conserves, and are made of sugar and lemons. Bacon. 3. A composition of drugs. Shak. 4. (Med.) A soft solid made by incorporating a medicinal substance or substances with sugar, sirup, or honey. Note: The pharmacopoeias formerly made a distinction between conserves (made of fresh vegetable substances and sugar) and electuaries (medicinal substances combined with sirup or honey), but the distinction is now abandoned and all are called confections.

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Sen 26937 There are few things more discomfiting than a spontaneous outburst of genuine decency from someone you’re determined to dislike for no good reason.
490 malignity prev next
Definition
1. The state or quality of being malignant; disposition to do evil; virulent enmity; malignancy; malice; spite. 2. Virulence; deadly quality. His physicians discerned an invincible malignity in his disease. Hayward. 3. Extreme evilness of nature or influence; perniciousness; heinousness; as, the malignity of fraud. [R.] Syn. -- See Malice. "malignancy": 1. The state or quality of being malignant; extreme malevolence; bitter enmity; malice; as, malignancy of heart. 2. Unfavorableness; evil nature. The malignancy of my fate might perhaps distemner yours. Shak. 3. (Med.) Virulence; tendency to a fatal issue; as, the malignancy of an ulcer or of a fever. 4. The state of being a malignant. Syn. -- Malice; malevolence; malignity. See Malice. "evilness": The condition or quality of being evil; badness; viciousness; malignity; vileness; as, evilness of heart; the evilness of sin. "virulence": 1. The quality or state of being virulent or venomous; poisonousness; malignancy. 2. Extreme bitterness or malignity of disposition. "Refuted without satirical virulency." Barrow. The virulence of one declaimer, or the profundities and sublimities of the other. I. Taylor.

Difficulty: 19.08
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Sen 1192 He spoke a lavishly accented English, using the language to provoke and criticise friend and stranger alike with an indolent malignity.
491 polymorphous prev next
Definition
1. Having, or assuming, a variety of forms, characters, or styles; as, a polymorphous author. De Quincey. 2. (Biol.) Having, or occurring in, several distinct forms; -- opposed to monomorphic. "monomorphic": Having but a single form; retaining the same form throughout the various stages of development; of the same or of an essentially similar type of structure; -- opposed to dimorphic, trimorphic, and polymorphic.

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Sen 6143 It had surprised me, at first, that a city so polymorphous as Bombay, with its unceasing variety of peoples, languages, and pursuits, tended to such narrow concentrations.
492 dolorous prev next
Definition
1. Full of grief; sad; sorrowful; doleful; dismal; as, a dolorous object; dolorous discourses. You take me in too dolorous a sense; I spake to you for your comfort. Shak. 2. Occasioning pain or grief; painful. Their dispatch is quick, and less dolorous than the paw of the bear or teeth of the lion. Dr. H. More. -- Dol"or*ous*ly, adv. -- Dol"or*ous*ness, n. "doleful": Full of dole or grief; expressing or exciting sorrow; sorrowful; sad; dismal. With screwed face and doleful whine. South. Regions of sorrow, doleful shades. Milton. Syn. -- Piteous; rueful; sorrowful; woeful; melancholy; sad gloomy; dismal; dolorous; woe-begone. - Dole"ful*ly, adv. -- Dole"ful*ness, n.

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Sen 6965 The bear swayed from side to side, scanning the crowd with those large, dolorous eyes.
493 architraves prev next
Definition  (architrave)
(a) The lower division of an entablature, or that part which rests immediately on the column, esp. in classical architecture. See Column. (b) The group of moldings, or other architectural member, above and on both sides of a door or other opening, especially if square in form. "entablature": The superstructure which lies horizontally upon the columns. See Illust. of Column, Cornice. Note: It is commonly divided into architrave, the part immediately above the column; frieze, the central space; and cornice, the upper projecting moldings. Parker.

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Sen 8365 The heavy stone architraves over the door and windows had been chiselled into coronets of five-pointed stars.
494 supernatant prev next
Definition
Swimming above; floating on the surface; as, oil supernatant on water. SUPERNATANT Su`per*na"tant, n. (Chem.) The liquid remaining after solids suspended in a liquid have been sedimented by gravity or by centrifugation. Contrasted with the solid sediment, or (in centrifugation) the pellet. "tant": A small scarlet arachnid.

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Sen 19399 I floated, upraised on the supernatant liquid of the smack in the spoon, and the spoon was as big as a room.
495 enwrapped prev next
Definition  (enwrap)
To envelop. See Inwrap. "inwrap": 1. To cover by wrapping; to involve; to infold; as, to inwrap in a cloak, in smoke, etc. 2. To involve, as in difficulty or perplexity; to perplex. [R.] Bp. Hall. "envelop": To put a covering about; to wrap up or in; to inclose within a case, wrapper, integument or the like; to surround entirely; as, to envelop goods or a letter; the fog envelops a ship. Nocturnal shades this world envelop. J. Philips. 1. That which envelops, wraps up, encases, or surrounds; a wrapper; an inclosing cover; esp., the cover or wrapper of a document, as of a letter. 2. (Astron.) The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; -- called also coma. 3. (Fort.) A work of earth, in the form of a single parapet or of a small rampart. It is sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it. Wilhelm. 4. (Geom.) A curve or surface which is tangent to each member of a system of curves or surfaces, the form and position of the members of the system being allowed to vary according to some continuous law. Thus, any curve is the envelope of its tangents. push the envelope. It is used to refer to the maximum performance available at the current state of the technology, and therefore refers to a class of machines in general, not a specific machine. push the envelope Increase the capability of some type of machine or system; -- usu. by technological development.

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Sen 21713 A gloomy mood enwrapped me.
496 khels prev next

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Sen 23127 We tried many times to slip away from the camp and reach one of the neighbouring khels to secure some extra food.
497 knuckleduster prev next

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Sen 27759 He had rings on his fingers, or he was using a knuckleduster.
498 enrapture prev next
Definition
To transport with pleasure; to delight beyond measure; to enravish. Shenstone. "enravish": To transport with delight; to enrapture; to fascinate. Spenser.

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Sen 692 A voice in my blood said yes, yes, yes … The ancient Sanskrit legends speak of a destined love, a karmic connection between souls that are fated to meet and collide and enrapture one another.
499 airconditioned prev next

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Sen 1360 There was a smaller, more discreet, airconditioned bar on the first floor, supported by sturdy columns that divided the ground floor into roughly equal sections, and around which many of the tables were grouped.
500 viscid prev next
Definition
Sticking or adhering, and having a ropy or glutinous consistency; viscous; glutinous; sticky; tenacious; clammy; as, turpentine, tar, gums, etc., are more or less viscid. "ropy": capable of being drawn into a thread, as a glutinous substance; stringy; viscous; tenacious; glutinous; as ropy sirup; ropy lees. "viscous": Adhesive or sticky, and having a ropy or glutinous consistency; viscid; glutinous; clammy; tenacious; as, a viscous juice. -- Vis"cous*ness, n. Note: There is no well-defined distinction in meaning between viscous and viscid. "glutinous": 1. Of the nature of glue; resembling glue; viscous; viscid; adhesive; gluey. 2. (Bot.) Havig a moist and adhesive or sticky surface, as a leaf or gland.

Difficulty: 18.98
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9953 A viscid mix of emotions boiled in me, but I knew that most of it was rage, and most of the anger was at myself.
501 papadams prev next

Difficulty: 18.98
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11992 We ate chicken byriani, malai kofta, vegetable korma, rice, curried vegetables, deep fried pieces of pumpkin, potato, onion, and cauliflower, hot buttered naan bread, dhal, papadams, and green mango chutney.
502 euphony prev next
Definition
A pleasing or sweet sound; an easy, smooth enunciation of sounds; a pronunciation of letters and syllables which is pleasing to the ear. "enunciation": 1. The act of enunciating, announcing, proclaiming, or making known; open attestation; declaration; as, the enunciation of an important truth. By way of interpretation and enunciation. Jer. Taylor. 2. Mode of utterance or pronunciation, especially as regards fullness and distinctness or articulation; as, to speak with a clear or impressive enunciation. 3. That which is enunciated or announced; words in which a proposition is expressed; an announcement; a formal declaration; a statement. Every intelligible enunciation must be either true or false. A. Clarke.

Difficulty: 18.98
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26563 Adrift on the softness in his voice, I asked myself if that was the key to the mysterious bond that had existed between them, Ulla and Modena: if they’d talked to one another, for hours, when they were alone, and if that tender euphony, that voice music, had held them together.
503 wollte prev next

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1236 Spritzen wollte er, all over my clothes!
504 riyals prev next

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13658 The black marketeers were happy because a steady stream of dollars, Deutschmarks, riyals, and dirhams flowed into the river of demand created by Indian business travellers.
505 actuating prev next
Definition  (actuate)
1. To put into action or motion; to move or incite to action; to influence actively; to move as motives do; -- more commonly used of persons. Wings, which others were contriving to actuate by the perpetual motion. Johnson. Men of the greatest abilities are most fired with ambition; and, on the contrary, mean and narrow minds are the least actuated by it. Addison. 2. To carry out in practice; to perform. [Obs.] "To actuate what you command." Jer. Taylor. Syn. -- To move; impel; incite; rouse; instigate; animate. Put in action; actuated. [Obs.] South. "impel": To drive or urge forward or on; to press on; to incite to action or motion in any way. The surge impelled me on a craggy coast. Pope. Syn. -- To instigate; incite; induce; influence; force; drive; urge; actuate; move.

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13689 After twenty minutes of excited, actuating discussion, we agreed to visit Ranjit together to find out more about the history of the black market in medicines.
506 premonitory prev next
Definition
Giving previous warning or notice; as, premonitory symptoms of disease. -- Pre*mon"i*to*ri*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14814 Madjid was kind and patient and generous with me, yet I had no feeling for him at all beyond a vague, premonitory unease.
507 organdie prev next
Definition
A kind of transparent light muslin. "muslin": A thin cotton, white, dyed, or printed. The name is also applied to coarser and heavier cotton goods; as, shirting and sheeting muslins. Muslin cambric. See Cambric. -- Muslin delaine, a light woolen fabric for women's dresses. See Delaine. [Written also mousseline de laine.]

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18728 Lettie wore a burnt-gold suit, with a broad, gold straw hat bearing organdie roses.
508 exegesis prev next
Definition
1. Exposition; explanation; especially, a critical explanation of a text or portion of Scripture. 2. (Math.) The process of finding the roots of an equation. [Obs.]

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25407 I know now that assassin grief can hide for years and then strike suddenly, on the happiest day, without discernible reason or exegesis.
509 condign prev next
Definition
1. Worthy; suitable; deserving; fit. [Obs.] Condign and worthy praise. Udall. Herself of all that rule she deemend most condign. Spenser. 2. Deserved; adequate; suitable to the fault or crime. "Condign censure." Milman. Unless it were a bloody murderer . . . I never gave them condign punishment. Shak.

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26073 Within that little kingdom, any man or woman who hadn’t kept their involvement with prostitution and pornography to very low, very discreet, levels of activity had risked his condign punishment.
510 angularity prev next
Definition
The quality or state of being angular; angularness. "angularness": The quality of being angular.

Difficulty: 18.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26829 Kavita’s shapely figure and perilously seductive eye seemed the perfect complement to Cliff’s rangy angularity and the boyishness of his artless, lopsided grin.
511 stonewashed prev next

Difficulty: 18.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 141 His companion looked like a shorter, more compact version of himself; they even wore identical stonewashed jeans, sandals, and soft, calico jackets.
512 kheema prev next

Difficulty: 18.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7623 A team of women scooped out servings of saffron rice, alu palak, kheema, bhajee, and other foods.
513 landward prev next
Definition
Toward the land.

Difficulty: 18.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13721 Instead, with Khaderbhai’s help, I rented an apartment in Colaba at the landward end of Best Street, not far from Leopold’s.
514 duteousness prev next
Definition  (duteous)
1. Fulfilling duty; dutiful; having the sentiments due to a superior, or to one to whom respect or service is owed; obedient; as, a duteous son or daughter. 2. Subservient; obsequious. Duteous to the vices of thy mistress. Shak. -- Du"te*ous*ly, adv. -- Du"te*ous*ness, n. "obsequious": 1. Promptly obedient, or submissive, to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the desires of another; devoted. [Obs.] His servants weeping, Obsequious to his orders, bear him hither. Addison. 2. Servilely or meanly attentive; compliant to excess; cringing; fawning; as, obsequious flatterer, parasite. There lies ever in "obsequious" at the present the sense of an observance which is overdone, of an unmanly readiness to fall in with the will of another. Trench. 3. Etym: [See Obsequy.] Of or pertaining to obsequies; funereal. [R.] "To do obsequious sorrow." Shak. Syn. -- Compliant; obedient; servile. See Yielding.

Difficulty: 18.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18090 By his own account, repeated to Ulla whenever he was drunk, he was raised with indifferent duteousness by distant relatives who’d tolerated him reluctantly in the loveless shelter of their home.
515 faience prev next
Definition
Glazed earthenware; esp., that which is decorated in color. "earthenware": Vessels and other utensils, ornaments, or the like, made of baked clay. See Crockery, Pottery, Stoneware, and Porcelain.

Difficulty: 18.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18371 I listened to Khaderbhai’s lectures, and immersed myself in the books, manuscripts, parchments, and ancient faience carvings in Abdul Ghani’s extensive private collection.
516 ambrosial prev next
Definition
1. Consisting of, or partaking of the nature of, ambrosia; delighting the taste or smell; delicious. "Ambrosial food." "Ambrosial fragrance." Milton. 2. Divinely excellent or beautiful. "Shakes his ambrosial curls." Pope. "delighting": Giving delight; gladdening. -- De*light"ing*ly, adv. Jer. Taylor.

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 988 I threw my arm around his shoulder and led him into the steamy, ambrosial activity of the busy restaurant.
517 furthermost prev next
Definition
Most remote; furthest.

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4753 Once past the latrines and within the first lane of huts, however, there were fitful gusts of wind from a wide arc of seacoast that formed the furthermost edge of the slum.
518 acanthus prev next
Definition
1. (Bot.) A genus of herbaceous prickly plants, found in the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and India; bear's-breech. 2. (Arch.) An ornament resembling the foliage or leaves of the acanthus (Acanthus spinosus); -- used in the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders. "corinthian": 1. Of or relating to Corinth. 2. (Arch.) Of or pertaining to the Corinthian order of architecture, invented by the Greeks, but more commonly used by the Romans. This is the lightest and most ornamental of the three orders used by the Greeks. Parker. 3. Debauched in character or practice; impure. Milton. 4. Of or pertaining to an amateur sailor or yachtsman; as, a corinthian race (one in which the contesting yachts must be manned by amateurs.) 1. A native or inhabitant of Corinth. 2. A gay, licentious person. [Obs.] "herbaceous": Of or pertaining to herbs; having the nature, texture, or characteristics, of an herb; as, herbaceous plants; an herbaceous stem.

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8362 The street windows were barred with wrought-iron curlicues beaten into the shape of acanthus leaves.
519 desultory prev next
Definition
1. Leaping or skipping about. [Obs.] I shot at it [a bird], but it was so desultory that I missed my aim. Gilbert White. 2. Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection; without logical sequence; disconnected; immethodical; aimless; as, desultory minds. Atterbury. He [Goldsmith] knew nothing accurately; his reading had been desultory. Macaulay. 3. Out of course; by the way; as a digression; not connected with the subject; as, a desultory remark. Syn. -- Rambling; roving; immethodical; discursive; inconstant; unsettled; cursory; slight; hasty; loose. "inconstant": Not constant; not stable or uniform; subject to change of character, appearance, opinion, inclination, or purpose, etc.; not firm; unsteady; fickle; changeable; variable; -- said of persons or things; as, inconstant in love or friendship. "The inconstant moon." Shak. While we, inquiring phantoms of a day, Inconstant as the shadows we survey! Boyse. Syn. -- Mutable; fickle; volatile; unsteady; unstable; changeable; variable; wavering; fluctuating. "discursive": 1. Passing from one thing to another; ranging over a wide field; roving; digressive; desultory. "Discursive notices." De Quincey. The power he [Shakespeare] delights to show is not intense, but discursive. Hazlitt. A man rather tacit than discursive. Carlyle. 2. Reasoning; proceeding from one ground to another, as in reasoning; argumentative. Reason is her being, Discursive or intuitive. Milton. -- Dis*cur"sive*ly, adv. -- Dis*cur"sive*ness, n. "immethodical": Not methodical; without method or systematic arrangement; without order or regularity; confused. Addison. Syn. -- Irregular; confused; disoderly; unsystematic; desultory. "cursory": 1. Running about; not stationary. [Obs.] 2. Characterized by haste; hastily or superficially performed; slight; superficial; careless. Events far too important to be treated in a cursory manner. Hallam. "digression": 1. The act of digressing or deviating, esp. from the main subject of a discourse; hence, a part of a discourse deviating from its main design or subject. The digressions I can not excuse otherwise, than by the confidence that no man will read them. Sir W. Temple. 2. A turning aside from the right path; transgression; offense. [R.] Then my digression is so vile, so base, That it will live engraven in my face. Shak. 3. (Anat.) The elongation, or angular distance from the sun; -- said chiefly of the inferior planets. [R.]

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12127 A desultory breeze riffled the gauze curtains, and I saw a soft yellow light, a candle, glowing within.
520 baulked prev next
Definition  (baulk)
See Balk. "balk": 1. A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside. Bad plowmen made balks of such ground. Fuller. 2. A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks." Tubs hanging in the balks. Chaucer. 3. (Mil.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge. 4. A hindrance or disappointment; a check. A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker. South. 5. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure. 6. (Baseball) A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. Balk line (Billiards), a line across a billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game. 1. To leave or make balks in. [Obs.] Gower. 2. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. [Obs.] Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see. Shak. 3. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. [Obs.] 4. To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. [Obs. or Obsolescent] By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the Evelyn. Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat. Bp. Hall. Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth. Drayton. 5. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to as, to balk expectation. They shall not balk my entrance. Byron. 1. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. [Obs.] In strifeful terms with him to balk. Spenser. 2. To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks. Note: This has been regarded as an Americanism, but it occurs in Spenser's "Faërie Queene," Book IV., 10, xxv. Ne ever ought but of their true loves talkt, Ne ever for rebuke or blame of any balkt. To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12963 The rest of them baulked.
521 nailbrush prev next
Definition
A brush for cleaning the nails.

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13377 I tipped a whole bottle of Dettol disinfectant over my head, and scrubbed it into my skin with a hard nailbrush.
522 bookwork prev next
Definition
1. Work done upon a book or books (as in a printing office), in distinction from newspaper or job work. 2. Study; application to books.

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16007 I can read and write very well—my mother made sure I was educated—and I do the bookwork for all the shops and businesses in the slum.
523 cannibalise prev next

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17356 It was possible to cannibalise them by pulling apart the stitching to furnish fresh pages for other, usable books.
524 egalitarianism prev next

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17413 On the other hand, the criminals in Khader’s network displayed a kind of egalitarianism that would’ve filled communists and Gnostic Christians with admiring envy.
525 coir prev next
Definition
1. A material for cordage, matting, etc., consisting of the prepared fiber of the outer husk of the cocoanut. Homans. 2. Cordage or cables, made of this material. "cocoanut": The large, hard-shelled nut of the cocoa palm. It yields an agreeable milky liquid and a white meat or albumen much used as food and in making oil. "matting": 1. The act of interweaving or tangling together so as to make a mat; the process of becoming matted. 2. Mats, in general, or collectively; mat work; a matlike fabric, for use in covering floors, packing articles, and the like; a kind of carpeting made of straw, etc. 3. Materials for mats. 4. An ornamental border. See 3d Mat, 4. A dull, lusterless surface in certain of the arts, as gilding, metal work, glassmaking, etc. "cordage": Ropes or cords, collectively; hence, anything made of rope or cord, as those parts of the rigging of a ship which consist of ropes.

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18632 In another yard some women were squatting together, washing dishes with small anemones of coir rope and a long bar of coral-coloured soap.
526 hearthstone prev next
Definition
Stone forming the hearth; hence, the fireside; home. Chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone. A. Lincoln.

Difficulty: 18.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22628 The anger in me was as hard and heavy as a basalt hearthstone, and I knew it would take years to wear down, but I couldn’t hate them.
527 raffish prev next
Definition
Resembling, or having the character of, raff, or a raff; worthless; low. A sad, raffish, disreputable character. Thackeray.

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11959 She slipped it on with a raffish tilt of the cap’s peak, and we set off.
528 dehumanising prev next

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12415 The procedure was as vile and dehumanising for them as it was for the poorest prisoner; and in that, if in nothing else, we were all nearly equal.
529 choli prev next

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18669 They wore traditional tight choli blouses and wrap-around saris.
530 snuffle prev next
Definition
To speak through the nose; to breathe through the nose when it is obstructed, so as to make a broken sound. One clad in purple Eats, and recites some lamentable rhyme . . . Snuffling at nose, and croaking in his throat. Dryden. 1. The act of snuffing; a sound made by the air passing through the nose when obstructed. This dread sovereign, Breath, in its passage, gave a snort or snuffle. Coleridge. 2. An affected nasal twang; hence, cant; hypocrisy. 3. pl. Obstruction of the nose by mucus; nasal catarrh of infants or children. [Colloq.] "catarrh": An inflammatory affection of any mucous membrane, in which there are congestion, swelling, and an altertion in the quantity and quality of mucus secreted; as catarrh of the stomach; catarrh of the bladder. Note: In America, the term catarrh is applied especially to a chronic inflammation of, and hypersecretion fron, the membranes of the nose or air passages; in England, to an acute influenza, resulting a cold, and attended with cough, thirst, lassitude, and watery eyes; also, to the cold itself. "twang": A tang. See Tang a state. [R.] To sound with a quick, harsh noise; to make the sound of a tense string pulled and suddenly let go; as, the bowstring twanged. To make to sound, as by pulling a tense string and letting it go suddenly. Sounds the tough horn, and twangs the quivering string. Pope. 1. A harsh, quick sound, like that made by a stretched string when pulled and suddenly let go; as, the twang of a bowstring. 2. An affected modulation of the voice; a kind of nasal sound. He has such a twang in his discourse. Arbuthnot. "lamentable": 1. Mourning; sorrowful; expressing grief; as, a lamentable countenance. "Lamentable eye." Spenser. 2. Fitted to awaken lament; to be lamented; sorrowful; pitiable; as, a lamentable misfortune, or error. "Lamentable helplessness." Burke. 3. Miserable; pitiful; paltry; -- in a contemptuous or Bp. Stillingfleet. -- Lam"en*ta*ble*ness, n. -- Lam"en*ta*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20294 And when the dance was over, Vikram spoke to my horse in Hindi, letting it snuffle at his black hat.
531 freebooter prev next
Definition
One who plunders or pillages without the authority of national warfare; a member of a predatory band; a pillager; a buccaneer; a sea robber. Bacon. "pillager": One who pillages. Pope. "buccaneer": A robber upon the sea; a pirate; -- a term applied especially to the piratical adventurers who made depredations on the Spaniards in America in the 17th and 18th centuries. [Written also bucanier.] Note: Primarily, one who dries and smokes flesh or fish after the manner of the Indians. The name was first given to the French settlers in Hayti or Hispaniola, whose business was to hunt wild cattle and swine. To act the part of a buccaneer; to live as a piratical adventurer or sea robber.

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20481 One enterprising German freebooter had driven a Mercedes truck loaded with surplus German army alpine-issue uniforms, complete with thermal underwear, from Munich to Peshawar.
532 enshrouding prev next
Definition  (enshroud)
To cover with, or as with, a shroud; to shroud. Churchill.

Difficulty: 18.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24575 The corridor wound through several turns, and I lost my bearings, unsure in the enshrouding darkness if I faced the front of the house or the rear.
533 pugnacity prev next
Definition
Inclination or readiness to fight; quarrelsomeness. " A national pugnacity of character." Motley.

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2062 There was an angry, bullying pugnacity in his attitude to everyone else on the road.
534 hammerlock prev next

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4639 He gripped the fallen man’s arm in a hammerlock, behind his back.
535 bearish prev next
Definition
Partaking of the qualities of a bear; resembling a bear in temper or manners. Harris.

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6431 We stood together for a moment, and then he reached out impulsively and enclosed me in a warm, bearish hug.
536 ambit prev next
Definition
Circuit or compass. His great parts did not live within a small ambit. Milward.

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6542 An incident that occurred in those weeks before the rain brought me into the ambit of his wisdom, and revealed to me why it was so widely revered.
537 openhearted prev next

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9118 Young Farid was openhearted, self-effacing and, I suspected, too easily led.
538 leatherwork prev next

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9332 I’d stitched his wound closed with a leatherwork needle and embroidery thread.
539 equably prev next
Definition
In an equable manner.

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10656 ‘Yes,’ he answered equably.
540 irrecoverable prev next
Definition
Not capable of being recovered, regained, or remedied; irreparable; as, an irrecoverable loss, debt, or injury. That which is past is gone and irrecoverable. Bacon. Syn. -- Irreparable; irretrievable; irremediable; unalterable; incurable; hopeless. -- Ir`re*cov"er*a*ble*ness, n. -- Ir`re*cov"er*a*bly, adv. "irremediable": Not to be remedied, corrected, or redressed; incurable; as, an irremediable disease or evil. "irretrievable": Not retrievable; irrecoverable; irreparable; as, an irretrievable loss. Syn. -- Irremediable; incurable; irrecoverable.

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17509 Its virtues and its solaces beyond price were as remote and irrecoverable as the life I’d known and lost in Australia.
541 gamine prev next

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18947 Reeta had a neat short hairstyle that suited her small face and gamine features.
542 freebooters prev next
Definition  (freebooter)
One who plunders or pillages without the authority of national warfare; a member of a predatory band; a pillager; a buccaneer; a sea robber. Bacon. "pillager": One who pillages. Pope. "buccaneer": A robber upon the sea; a pirate; -- a term applied especially to the piratical adventurers who made depredations on the Spaniards in America in the 17th and 18th centuries. [Written also bucanier.] Note: Primarily, one who dries and smokes flesh or fish after the manner of the Indians. The name was first given to the French settlers in Hayti or Hispaniola, whose business was to hunt wild cattle and swine. To act the part of a buccaneer; to live as a piratical adventurer or sea robber.

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20468 No less industrious in their pursuit of a deal with the camarilla of generals were the illegals—the black marketeers, gunrunners, freebooters, and mercenaries.
543 equable prev next
Definition
1. Equal and uniform; continuing the same at different times; -- said of motion, and the like; uniform in surface; smooth; as, an equable plain or globe. 2. Uniform in action or intensity; not variable or changing; -- said of the feelings or temper.

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21470 The impact of those tender, viridescent carpets between the endlessly undulating crocodile’s back of naked stone mountains was far greater than it might’ve been in a more fertile and equable landscape.
544 reductionist prev next

Difficulty: 18.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21650 ‘But where does this life characteristic come from?’ I insisted, sure that I had him trapped in a reductionist dead-end at last.
545 ubiquity prev next
Definition
1. Existence everywhere, or in places, at the same time; omnipresence; as, the ubiquity of God is not disputed by those who admit his existence. The arms of Rome . . . were impeded by . . . the wide spaces to be traversed and the ubiquity of the enemy. C. Merivale. 2. (Theol.) The doctrine, as formulated by Luther, that Christ's glorified body is omnipresent. "omnipresence": Presence in every place at the same time; unbounded or universal presence; ubiquity. His omnipresence fills Land, sea, and air, and every kind that lives. Milton. "omnipresent": Present in all places at the same time; ubiquitous; as, the omnipresent Jehovah. Prior.

Difficulty: 18.55
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 115 The slums went on, and their sheer ubiquity wore down my foreigner’s pieties.
546 somnolent prev next
Definition
Sleepy; drowsy; inclined to sleep. -- Som"no*lent*ly, adv. He had no eye for such phenomens, because he had a somnolent want of interest in them. De Quincey.

Difficulty: 18.55
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12012 She was a junkie, and she was stoned almost to sleep, but there was a numb, somnolent panic in her pleading.
547 voluble prev next
Definition
1. Easily rolling or turning; easily set in motion; apt to roll; rotating; as, voluble particles of matter. 2. Moving with ease and smoothness in uttering words; of rapid speech; nimble in speaking; glib; as, a flippant, voluble, tongue. [Cassio,] a knave very voluble. Shak. Note: Voluble was used formerly to indicate readiness of speech merely, without any derogatory suggestion. "A grave and voluble eloquence." Bp. Hacket. 3. Changeable; unstable; fickle. [Obs.] 4. (Bot.) Having the power or habit of turning or twining; as, the voluble stem of hop plants. Voluble stem (Bot.), a stem that climbs by winding, or twining, round another body. -- Vol"u*ble*ness, n. -- Vol"u*bly, adv. "twining": Winding around something; twisting; embracing; climbing by winding about a support; as, the hop is a twinning plant. The act of one who, or that which, twines; (Bot.) the act of climbing spirally. "changeable": 1. Capable of change; subject to alteration; mutable; variable; fickle; inconstant; as, a changeable humor. 2. Appearing different, as in color, in different lights, or under different circumstances; as, changeable silk. Syn. -- Mutable; alterable; variable; inconstant; fitful; vacillating; capricious; fickle; unstable; unsteady; unsettled; wavering; erratic; giddy; volatile. "smoothness": Quality or state of being smooth.

Difficulty: 18.55
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26562 As I listened to him, as I reoriented myself to the disfigured, voluble version of the man, I became aware of the melodies that his Spanish accent made as it moved fluently between Hindi and English, mixing the two seamlessly, and incorporating words from each into a hybrid language that was his own.
548 amiability prev next
Definition
The quality of being amiable; amiableness; sweetness of disposition. Every excellency is a degree of amiability. Jer. Taylor. "amiableness": The quality of being amiable; amiability.

Difficulty: 18.49
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 321 He spoke with deferential amiability to the two Canadians.
549 incandescence prev next
Definition
A white heat, or the glowing or luminous whiteness of a body caused by intense heat. "whiteness": 1. The quality or state of being white; white color, or freedom from darkness or obscurity on the surface. Chaucer. 2. Want of a sanguineous tinge; paleness; as from terror, grief, etc. "The whiteness in thy cheek." Shak. 3. Freedom from stain or blemish; purity; cleanness. He had kept The whiteness of his soul, and thus men o'er him wept. Byron. 4. Nakedness. [Obs.] Chapman. 5. (Zoöl.) A flock of swans.

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Sen 3873 When he looked away again, it was as if the room had darkened, and she understood that she’d begun to love him for the reassuring incandescence of his smile alone.
550 hutment prev next

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Sen 7546 ‘Then all this will be gone?’ Karla asked, turning to sweep the hutment city with her gaze.
551 pentagonal prev next
Definition
Having five corners or angles. Pentagonal dodecahedron. See Dodecahedron, and Pyritohedron. "dodecahedron": A solid having twelve faces. Note: The regular dodecahedron is bounded by twelve equal and regular pentagons; the pyritohedron (see Pyritohedron) is related to it; the rhombic dodecahedron is bounded by twelve equal rhombic faces. "pyritohedron": The pentagonal dodecahedron, a common form of pyrite.

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Sen 8728 The floor was surfaced with smooth, cream, pentagonal tiles.
552 matkas prev next

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Sen 10354 There was an oil painting of women carrying water from a river, with matkas balanced on their heads, and children following with smaller pots on their own heads.
553 thickset prev next
Definition
1. Close planted; as, a thickset wood; a thickset hedge. Dryden. 2. Having a short, thick body; stout. 1. A close or thick hedge. 2. A stout, twilled cotton cloth; a fustian corduroy, or velveteen. McElrath. "fustian": 1. A kind of coarse twilled cotton or cotton and linen stuff, including corduroy, velveteen, etc. 2. An inflated style of writing; a kind of writing in which high- sounding words are used,' above the dignity of the thoughts or subject; bombast. Claudius . . . has run his description into the most wretched fustian. Addison. 1. Made of fustian. 2. Pompous; ridiculously tumid; inflated; bombastic; as, fustian history. Walpole. "velveteen": A kind of cloth, usually cotton, made in imitation of velvet; cotton velvet.

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Sen 20184 The thickset Afghan cupped his hands to boost me onto the gelding’s back, nodding his head for me to climb up, and winking encouragingly.
554 interweavings prev next
Definition  (interweave)
1. To weave together; to intermix or unite in texture or construction; to intertwine; as, threads of silk and cotton interwoven. Under the hospitable covert nigh Of trees thick interwoven. Milton. 2. To intermingle; to unite intimately; to connect closely; as, to interweave truth with falsehood. Dryden. Words interwove with sighs found out their way. Milton. "interwoven": imp. & p. p. of Interweave. "intermix": To mix together; to intermingle. In yonder spring of roses, intermixed With myrtle, find what to redress till noon. Milton. To be mixed together; to be intermingled. "intermingle": To mingle or mix together; to intermix. Hooker. To be mixed or incorporated. Party and faction will intermingle. Swift. "interwove": imp. & p. p. of Interweave. "intertwine": To unite by twining one with another; to entangle; to interlace. Milton. To be twined or twisted together; to become mutually involved or enfolded. The act intertwining, or the state of being intertwined. Coleridge.

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Sen 21451 There were silks in peacock blue and green, with rich interweavings of gold thread.
555 puckish prev next
Definition
Resembling Puck; merry; mischievous. "Puckish freaks." J. R. Green.

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Sen 22901 His ears were slightly pointed—an effect that was exaggerated against the white turban—and that puckish touch combined with his wide mouth to hint at the cheeky humour that once might’ve been his.
556 syzygies prev next
Definition  (syzygy)
1. (Astron.) The point of an orbit, as of the moon or a planet, at which it is in conjunction or opposition; -- commonly used in the plural. 2. (Gr. & L. Pros.) The coupling together of different feet; as, in Greek verse, an iambic syzygy. 3. (Zoöl.) (a) Any one of the segments of an arm of a crinoid composed of two joints so closely united that the line of union is obliterated on the outer, though visible on the inner, side. (b) The immovable union of two joints of a crinoidal arm. Line of syzygies (Astron.), the straight line connecting the earth, the sun, and the moon or a planet, when the latter is in conjunction or opposition; -- used chiefly of the moon. "iambic": 1. (Pros.) Consisting of a short syllable followed by a long one, or of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented; as, an iambic foot. 2. Pertaining to, or composed of, iambics; as, an iambic verse; iambic meter. See Lambus. 1. (Pros.) (a) An iambic foot; an iambus. (b) A verse composed of iambic feet. Note: The following couplet consists of iambic verses. Thy gen- | ius calls | thee not | to pur- | chase fame In keen | iam- | bics, but | mild an- | agram. Dryden. 2. A satirical poem (such poems having been anciently written in iambic verse); a satire; a lampoon. "crinoidal": Of pertaining to crinoids; consisting of, or containing, crinoids. "immovable": 1. Incapable of being moved; firmly fixed; fast; -- used of material things; as, an immovable foundatin. Immovable, infixed, and frozen round. Milton. 2. Steadfast; fixed; unalterable; unchangeable; -- used of the mind or will; as, an immovable purpose, or a man who remain immovable. 3. Not capable of being affected or moved in feeling or by sympathy; unimpressible; impassive. Dryden. 4. (Law.) Not liable to be removed; permanent in place or tenure; fixed; as, an immovable estate. See Immovable, n. Blackstone. Immovable apparatus (Med.), an appliance, like the plaster of paris bandage, which keeps fractured parts firmly in place. -- Immovable feasts (Eccl.), feasts which occur on a certain day of the year and do not depend on the date of Easter; as, Christmas, the Epiphany, etc. 1. That which can not be moved. 2. pl. (Civil Law) Lands and things adherent thereto by nature, as trees; by the hand of man, as buildings and their accessories; by their destination, as seeds, plants, manure, etc.; or by the objects to which they are applied, as servitudes. Ayliffe. Bouvier. "crinoid": Crinoidal. -- n. One of the Crinoidea.

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Sen 26840 That convergence of interests drove more than a few producers and production houses into strange syzygies with gangsters: films about mafia goondas were financed by the mafia, and the profits from hit movies about hit men went into new crimes and real hits on real people, which in turn became the subjects for screenplays and new films financed by more mafia money.
557 miscellany prev next
Definition
A mass or mixture of various things; a medley; esp., a collection of compositions on various subjects. 'T is but a bundle or miscellany of sin; sins original, and sins actual. Hewyt. Miscellany madam, a woman who dealt in various fineries; a milliner. [Obs.] B. Jonson. Miscellaneous; heterogeneous. [Obs.] Bacon. "heterogeneous": Differing in kind; having unlike qualities; possessed of different characteristics; dissimilar; -- opposed to homogeneous, and said of two or more connected objects, or of a conglomerate mass, considered in respect to the parts of which it is made up. -- Het`er*o*ge"ne*ous*ly, adv. -- Het`er*o*ge"ne*ous*ness, n. Heterogeneous nouns (Gram.), nouns having different genders in the singular and plural numbers; as, hic locus, of the masculine gender in the singular, and hi loci and hæc loca, both masculine and neuter in the plural; hoc cælum, neuter in the singular; hi cæli, masculine in the plural. -- Heterogeneous quantities (Math.), such quantities as are incapable of being compared together in respect to magnitude, and surfaces and solids. -- Heterogeneous surds (Math.), surds having different radical signs. "milliner": 1. Formerly, a man who imported and dealt in small articles of a miscellaneous kind, especially such as please the fancy of women. [Obs.] No milliner can so fit his customers with gloves. Shak. 2. A person, usually a woman, who makes, trims, or deals in hats, bonnets, headdresses, etc., for women. Man milliner, a man who makes or deals in millinery; hence, contemptuously, a man who is busied with trifling occupations or embellishments.

Difficulty: 18.44
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Sen 4254 Fierce grimaces disfigured them as they drank the foul-tasting, homemade alcohol, and they followed each glass with a miscellany of grunts, groans, and gagging sounds.
558 infinitude prev next
Definition
1. The quality or state of being infinite, or without limits; infiniteness. 2. Infinite extent; unlimited space; immensity; infinity. "I am who fill infinitude." Milton. As pleasing to the fancy, as speculations of eternity or infinitude are to the understanding. Addison. 3. Boundless number; countless multitude. "An infinitude of distinctions." Addison. "immensity": The state or quality of being immense; inlimited or immeasurable extension; infinity; vastness in extent or bulk; greatness. Lost in the wilds of vast immensity. Blackmore. The immensity of the material system. I. Taylor. "infiniteness": The state or quality of being infinite; infinity; greatness; immensity. Jer. Taylor.

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Sen 4608 For a tiny moment in the infinitude of his suffering I almost felt it, what the human will can drive the human body to endure and achieve.
559 ammoniac prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to ammonia, or possessing its properties; as, an ammoniac salt; ammoniacal gas. Ammoniacal engine, an engine in which the vapor of ammonia is used as the motive force. -- Sal ammoniac Etym: [L. sal ammoniacus], the salt usually called chloride of ammonium, and formerly muriate of ammonia. The concrete juice (gum resin) of an umbelliferous plant, the Dorema ammoniacum. It is brought chiefly from Persia in the form of yellowish tears, which occur singly, or are aggregated into masses. It has a peculiar smell, and a nauseous, sweet taste, followed by a bitter one. It is inflammable, partially soluble in water and in spirit of wine, and is used in medicine as an expectorant and resolvent, and for the formation of certain plasters. "ammoniacal": Of or pertaining to ammonia, or possessing its properties; as, an ammoniac salt; ammoniacal gas. Ammoniacal engine, an engine in which the vapor of ammonia is used as the motive force. -- Sal ammoniac Etym: [L. sal ammoniacus], the salt usually called chloride of ammonium, and formerly muriate of ammonia. "umbelliferous": (a) Producing umbels. (b) Of or pertaining to a natural order (Umbelliferæ) of plants, of which the parsley, carrot, parsnip, and fennel are well-known examples. "soluble": 1. Susceptible of being dissolved in a fluid; capable of solution; as, some substances are soluble in alcohol which are not soluble in water. Sugar is . . . soluble in water and fusible in fire. Arbuthnot. 2. Susceptible of being solved; as, a soluble algebraic problem; susceptible of being disentangled, unraveled, or explained; as, the mystery is perhaps soluble. "More soluble is this knot." Tennyson. 3. Relaxed; open or readily opened. [R.] "The bowels must be kept soluble." Dunglison. Soluble glass. (Chem.) See under Glass. "inflammable": 1. Capable of being easily set fire; easily enkindled; combustible; as, inflammable oils or spirits. 2. Excitable; irritable; irascible; easily provoked; as, an inflammable temper. Inflammable air, the old chemical name for hydrogen. "yellowish": Somewhat yellow; as, amber is of a yellowish color. -- Yel"low*ish*ness, n. "singly": 1. Individually; particularly; severally; as, to make men singly and personally good. 2. Only; by one's self; alone. Look thee, 't is so! Thou singly honest man. Shak. 3. Without partners, companions, or associates; single-handed; as, to attack another singly. At omber singly to decide their doom. Pope. 4. Honestly; sincerely; simply. [R.] Johnson. 5. Singularly; peculiarly. [Obs.] Milton. "resolvent": Having power to resolve; causing solution; solvent. 1. That which has the power of resolving, or causing solution; a solvent. 2. (Med.) That which has power to disperse inflammatory or other tumors; a discutient; anything which aids the absorption of effused products. Coxe. 3. (Math.) An equation upon whose solution the solution of a given pproblem depends. "etym": See Etymon. H. F. Talbot. "expectorant": Tending to facilitate expectoration or to promote discharges of mucus, etc., from the lungs or throat. -- n. An expectorant medicine. "muriate": A salt of muriatic hydrochloric acid; a chloride; as, muriate of ammonia. Note: This term, as also the word muriatic, was formerly applied to the chlorides before their true composition was understood, and while they were erroneously supposed to be compounds of an acid with an oxide. Muriate and muriatic are still occasionally used as commercial terms, but are obsolete in scientific language.

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Sen 7087 Beyond that, there was a piercing ammoniac smell, like bone being cut with a saw.
560 teakwood prev next

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Sen 8394 We climbed the wide stairs to the second floor, our footsteps swallowed by thick carpet and heavy teakwood newels and handrails.
561 sibilants prev next
Definition  (sibilant)
Making a hissing sound; uttered with a hissing sound; hissing; as, s, z, sh, and zh, are sibilant elementary sounds. -- n. A sibiliant letter.

Difficulty: 18.44
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8537 From behind the grate, the smoky voice full of spitting sibilants and crunching words continued.
562 vazan prev next

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Sen 9023 The—how do you say it, bhari vazan?’
563 doorpost prev next
Definition
The jamb or sidepiece of a doorway. "jamb": 1. (Arch) The vertical side of any opening, as a door or fireplace; hence, less properly, any narrow vertical surface of wall, as the of a chimney-breast or of a pier, as distinguished from its face. Gwilt. 2. (Mining) Any thick mass of rock which prevents miners from following the lode or vein. See Jam, v. t. "sidepiece": The jamb, or cheek, of an opening in a wall, as of door or window.

Difficulty: 18.44
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9804 The third was drawn by the desperate, pugnacious unhappiness of his mouth, the upside-down horseshoe of bad luck that fate had nailed to the doorpost of his life.
564 venalities prev next
Definition  (venality)
The quality or state of being venal, or purchasable; mercenariness; prostitution of talents, offices, or services, for money or reward; as, the venality of a corrupt court; the venality of an official. Complaints of Roman venality became louder. Milton. "mercenariness": The quality or state of being mercenary; venality. Boyle. "venal": Of or pertaining to veins; venous; as, venal blood. [R.] Capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration; made matter of trade or barter; held for sale; salable; mercenary; purchasable; hireling; as, venal services. " Paid court to venal beauties." Macaulay. The venal cry and prepared vote of a passive senate. Burke. Syn. -- Mercenary; hireling; vendible. -- Venal, Mercenary. One is mercenary who is either actually a hireling (as, mercenary soldiers, a mercenary judge, etc.), or is governed by a sordid love of gain; hence, we speak of mercenary motives, a mercenary marriage, etc. Venal goes further, and supposes either an actual purchase, or a readiness to be purchased, which places a person or thing wholly in the power of the purchaser; as, a venal press. Brissot played ingeniously on the latter word in his celebrated saying, " My pen is venal that it may not be mercenary," meaning that he wrote books, and sold them to the publishers, in order to avoid the necessity of being the hireling of any political party. Thus needy wits a vile revenue made, And verse became a mercenary trade. Dryden. This verse be thine, my friend, nor thou refuse This, from no venal or ungrateful muse. Pope. "purchasable": Capable of being bought, purchased, or obtained for a consideration; hence, venal; corrupt. Money being the counterbalance to all things purchasable by it, as much as you take off from the value of money, so much you add to the price of things exchanged. Locke.

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Sen 14558 They began with bribery, in a schedule of venalities ranging from insider trading to the securing of profitable tenders.
565 venturesome prev next
Definition
Inclined to venture; not loth to run risk or danger; venturous; bold; daring; adventurous; as, a venturesome boy or act. -- Ven"ture*some*ly, adv. -- Ven"ture*some*ness, n. "loth": See Loath, Loathly, etc. "venturous": Daring; bold; hardy; fearless; venturesome; adveturous; as, a venturous soldier. Spenser. This said, he paused not, but with venturous arm He plucked, he tasted. Milton. -- Ven"tur*ous*ly, adv. -- Ven"tur*ous*ness, n.

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Sen 20489 I encountered the story of the venturesome German and his truck full of alpine uniforms in three slightly different incarnations during the course of the afternoon.
566 sibilant prev next
Definition
Making a hissing sound; uttered with a hissing sound; hissing; as, s, z, sh, and zh, are sibilant elementary sounds. -- n. A sibiliant letter.

Difficulty: 18.44
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20633 I listened to the smooth, swiftly flowing syllables and I let my thoughts drift on that sibilant music.
567 scabrous prev next
Definition
1. Rough to the touch, like a file; having small raised dots, scales, or points; scabby; scurfy; scaly. Arbuthnot. 2. Fig.: Harsh; unmusical. [R.] His verse is scabrous and hobbling. Dryden. "scurfy": Having or producing scurf; covered with scurf; resembling scurf.

Difficulty: 18.38
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Sen 1816 It was a wizened and scabrous specimen with one ear chewed to the shape of a rosebud, and bare patches on its sides and back where unhealed sores were exposed.
568 bhindi prev next

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Sen 2034 What is phul gobhi and bhindi?’
569 expostulating prev next
Definition  (expostulate)
To reason earnestly with a person on some impropriety of his conduct, representing the wrong he has done or intends, and urging him to make redress or to desist; to remonstrate; -- followed by with. Men expostulate with erring friends; they bring accusations against enemies who have done them a wrong. Jowett (Thuc. ). Syn. -- To remonstrate; reason. See Remonstrate. To discuss; to examine. [Obs.] To expostulate What majesty should be, what duty is. Shak. "remonstrate": To point out; to show clearly; to make plain or manifest; hence, to prove; to demonstrate. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor. I will remonstrate to you the third door. B. Jonson. To present and urge reasons in opposition to an act, measure, or any course of proceedings; to expostulate; as, to remonstrate with a person regarding his habits; to remonstrate against proposed taxation. It is proper business of a divine to state cases of conscience, and to remonstrate against any growing corruptions in practice, and especially in principles. Waterland. Syn. -- Expostulate, Remonstrate. These words are commonly interchangeable, the principal difference being that expostulate is now used especially to signify remonstrance by a superior or by one in authority. A son remonstrates against the harshness of a father; a father expostulates with his son on his waywardness. Subjects remonstrate with their rulers; sovereigns expostulate with the parliament or the people.

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Sen 2582 Didier had been eating and drinking and expostulating at Leopold’s for nine years.
570 moustachioed prev next

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Sen 9603 At last he arrived at an agreed sum—two hundred rupees, about twelve American dollars—and the moustachioed watchman unlocked the gate for the bear-handlers while I handed over the bundle of notes.
571 situps prev next

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Sen 20197 I followed the push-ups every day with five hundred situps, a five-kilometre run, and a forty-minute swim in the sea.
572 cheongsam prev next

Difficulty: 18.38
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Sen 24600 She was dressed in a green silk cheongsam.
573 outfall prev next
Definition
1. The mouth of a river; the lower end of a water course; the open end of a drain, culvert, etc., where the discharge occurs. 2. A quarrel; a falling out. [Prov. Eng.] "culvert": A transverse drain or waterway of masonry under a road, railroad, canal, etc.; a small bridge.

Difficulty: 18.34
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6283 At other times they set up their camp on a swampy patch of vacant land or some outfall for industrial waste.
574 aridity prev next
Definition
1. The state or quality of being arid or without moisture; dryness. 2. Fig.: Want of interest of feeling; insensibility; dryness of style or feeling; spiritual drought. Norris. "dryness": The state of being dry. See Dry. "insensibility": 1. The state or quality of being insensible; want of sensibility; torpor; unconsciousness; as, the insensibility produced by a fall, or by opiates. 2. Want of tenderness or susceptibility of emotion or passion; dullness; stupidity. Syn. -- Dullness; numbness; unfeelingness; stupidity; torpor; apathy; impassiveness; indifference.

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Sen 6291 Within was the aridity of function and systems.
575 havaldar prev next

Difficulty: 18.34
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Sen 9433 Prabaker spoke quietly to a havaldar, or police constable, at the foot of a long flight of metal stairs.
576 impracticable prev next
Definition
1. Not practicable; incapable of being performed, or accomplished by the means employed, or at command; impossible; as, an impracticable undertaking. 2. Not to be overcome, presuaded, or controlled by any reasonable method; unmanageable; intractable; not capable of being easily dealt with; -- used in a general sense, as applied to a person or thing that is difficult to control or get along with. This though, impracticable heart Is governed by a dainty-fingered girl. Rowe. Patriotic butloyal men went away disguested afresh with the impracticable arrogance of a sovereign. Palfrey. 3. Incapable of being used or availed of; as, an impracticable road; an impracticable method. Syn. -- Impossible; infeasible. -- Impracticable, Impossible. A thing is impracticable when it can not be accomplished by any human means at present possessed; a thing is impossible when the laws of nature forbid it. The navigation of a river may now be impracticable, but not impossible, because the existing obstructions may yet be removed. "The barons exercised the most despotic authority over their vassals, and every scheme of public utility was rendered impracticable by their continued petty wars with each other." Mickle. "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matt. xix. 26. "practicable": 1. That may be practiced or performed; capable of being done or accomplished with available means or resources; feasible; as, a practicable method; a practicable aim; a practicable good. 2. Capable of being used; passable; as, a practicable weapon; a practicable road. Practicable breach (Mil.), a breach which admits of approach and entrance by an assailing party. Syn. -- Possible; feasible. -- Practicable, Possible. A thing may be possible, i. e., not forbidden by any law of nature, and yet may not now be practicable for want of the means requisite to its performance. -- Prac"ti*ca*ble*ness, n. -- Prac"ti*ca*bly, adv. "despotic": Having the character of, or pertaining to, a despot; absolute in power; possessing and abusing unlimited power; evincing despotism; tyrannical; arbitrary. -- Des*pot"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Des*pot"ic*al*ness, n. "infeasible": Not capable of being done or accomplished; impracticable. Glanvill. "intractable": Not tractable; not easily governed, managed, or directed; indisposed to be taught, disciplined, or tamed; violent; stubborn; obstinate; refractory; as, an intractable child. Syn. -- Stubborn; perverse; obstinate; refractory; cross; unmanageable; unruly; headstrong; violent; ungovernable; unteachable. -- In*tract"a*ble*ness, n. -- In*tract"a*bly, adv. "palfrey": 1. A saddle horse for the road, or for state occasions, as distinguished from a war horse. Chaucer. 2. A small saddle horse for ladies. Spenser. Call the host and bid him bring Charger and palfrey. Tennyson. "mickle": Much; great. [Written also muckle and mockle.] [Old Eng. & Scot.] "A man of mickle might." Spenser.

Difficulty: 18.34
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17448 But they couldn’t obtain the visas legally, and false visas were impracticable because they were immediately checked against the consular register.
577 kaise prev next

Difficulty: 18.29
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Sen 9696 Aap kaise hain?’ And with you be peace.
578 ontology prev next
Definition
That department of the science of metaphysics which investigates and explains the nature and essential properties and relations of all beings, as such, or the principles and causes of being. "metaphysics": 1. The science of real as distinguished from phenomenal being; ontology; also, the science of being, with reference to its abstract and universal conditions, as distinguished from the science of determined or concrete being; the science of the conceptions and relations which are necessarily implied as true of every kind of being; phylosophy in general; first principles, or the science of first principles. Note: Metaphysics is distinguished as general and special. General metaphysics is the science of all being as being. Special metaphysics is the science of one kind of being; as, the metaphysics of chemistry, of morals, or of politics. According to Kant, a systematic exposition of those notions and truths, the knowledge of which is altogether independent of experience, would constitute the science of metaphysics. Commonly, in the schools, called metaphysics, as being part of the philosophy of Aristotle, which hath that for title; but it is in another sense: for there it signifieth as much as "books written or placed after his natural philosophy." But the schools take them for "books of supernatural philosophy;" for the word metaphysic will bear both these senses. Hobbes. Now the science conversant about all such inferences of unknown being from its known manifestations, is called ontology, or metaphysics proper. Sir W. Hamilton. Metaphysics are [is] the science which determines what can and what can not be known of being, and the laws of being, a priori. Coleridge. 2. Hence: The scientific knowledge of mental phenomena; mental philosophy; psychology. Metaphysics, in whatever latitude the term be taken, is a science or complement of sciences exclusively occupied with mind. Sir W. Hamilton. Whether, after all, A larger metaphysics might not help Our physics. Mrs. Browning.

Difficulty: 18.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13588 ‘You’ve put a lot of thought into this,’ I commented, laughing, but impressed and genuinely glad that he wanted to give me the ontology of currency crime, and not just the ways I could go about committing it.
579 rheumy prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to rheum; abounding in, or causing, rheum; affected with rheum. His head and rheumy eyes distill in showers. Dryden. And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air To add unto his sickness. Shak. "distill": 1. To drop; to fall in drops; to trickle. Soft showers distilled, and suns grew warm in vain. Pope. 2. To flow gently, or in a small stream. The Euphrates distilleth out of the mountains of Armenia. Sir W. Raleigh. 3. To practice the art of distillation. Shak. 1. To let fall or send down in drops. Or o'er the glebe distill the kindly rain. Pope. The dew which on the tender grass The evening had distilled. Drayton. 2. To obtain by distillation; to extract by distillation, as spirits, essential oil, etc.; to rectify; as, to distill brandy from wine; to distill alcoholic spirits from grain; to distill essential oils from flowers, etc.; to distill fresh water from sea water. "Distilling odors on me." Tennyson. 3. To subject to distillation; as, to distill molasses in making rum; to distill barley, rye, corn, etc. 4. To dissolve or melt. [R.] Swords by the lightning's subtle force distilled. Addison.

Difficulty: 18.29
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Sen 14822 Although he commanded a large number of strong men, and could be ruthless with them when it was required, his rheumy eyes only ever showed me kindness.
580 apparatchiks prev next

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Sen 17422 Every passport bought by one of the war-lords or their apparatchiks bought fifty more books, identity cards, or travel documents for Iranian and Afghan refugees.
581 acclimatised prev next

Difficulty: 18.29
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Sen 18231 Like the rest of us, he was acclimatised to Bombay’s heat, and he wore a heavy serge jacket and bottle-green jeans with no trace of discomfort.
582 technicoloured prev next

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Sen 20492 Vexed and gloomy with squalling emotions I entered the Faloodah House in the Bohri bazaar, and ordered one of the sweet, technicoloured drinks.
583 acclimatising prev next

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Sen 20870 And so it was that I rode during the day, acclimatising myself to the thinner air above five thousand feet, and at night read the diaries and journals of long-dead explorers, extinct editions of Greek classics, eccentrically annotated volumes of Shakespeare, and a dizzyingly passionate terza rima translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy.
584 forded prev next

Difficulty: 18.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21438 We forded rivers between Loe Kaarez and Yaaru.
585 yardman prev next

Difficulty: 18.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24907 They seized the cook, the yardman, Abdul’s two servants, and the Sri Lankan counterfeiters, Villu and Krishna, and locked them in a small room in the basement.
586 careworn prev next
Definition
Worn or burdened with care; as, careworn look or face.

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1189 Didier Levy was only thirty-five years old, but those years were stitched to him in lumpy wads of flesh and deep lines that gave him the plump and careworn look of a much older man.
587 curlicue prev next

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2024 ‘Just a second.’ I hesitated, peering out of the half-open window of the taxi and trying to read the curlicue numbers on the front of a red, double-decker bus that had stopped opposite us momentarily.
588 hatband prev next
Definition
A band round the crown of a hat; sometimes, a band of black cloth, crape, etc., worn as a badge of mourning. "crape": A thin, crimped stuff, made of raw silk gummed and twisted on the mill. Black crape is much used for mourning garments, also for the dress of some clergymen. A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn. Pope. Crape myrtle (Bot.), a very ornamental shrub (Lagerströmia Indica) from the East Indies, often planted in the Southern United States. Its foliage is like that of the myrtle, and the flower has wavy crisped petals. -- Oriental crape. See Canton crape. To form into ringlets; to curl; to crimp; to friz; as, to crape the hair; to crape silk. The hour for curling and craping the hair. Mad. D'Arblay.

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2747 His bolo tie, dollar-coin belt, and hatband were all in silver.
589 predominated prev next
Definition  (predominate)
To be superior in number, strength, influence, or authority; to have controlling power or influence; to prevail; to rule; to have the mastery; as, love predominated in her heart. [Certain] rays may predominate over the rest. Sir. I. Newton. To rule over; to overpower. [R.]

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4755 Smells of spices, cooking, and incense predominated.
590 straggly prev next
Definition  (straggle)
1. To wander from the direct course or way; to rove; to stray; to wander from the line of march or desert the line of battle; as, when troops are on the march, the men should not straggle. Dryden. 2. To wander at large; to roam idly about; to ramble. The wolf spied out a straggling kid. L'Estrange. 3. To escape or stretch beyond proper limits, as the branches of a plant; to spread widely apart; to shoot too far or widely in growth. Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out. Mortimer. 4. To be dispersed or separated; to occur at intervals. "Straggling pistol shots." Sir W. Scott. They came between Scylla and Charybdis and the straggling rocks. Sir W. Raleigh. The act of straggling. [R.] Carlyle. "straggling": from Straggle, v. "charybdis": A dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily opposite Scylla on the Italian coast. It is personified as a female monster. See Scylla.

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4796 A straggly beard dangled from his pointed chin.
591 curlicues prev next

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8362 The street windows were barred with wrought-iron curlicues beaten into the shape of acanthus leaves.
592 newels prev next
Definition  (newel)
A novelty; a new thing. [Obs.] Spenser. The upright post about which the steps of a circular staircase wind; hence, in stairs having straight flights, the principal post at the foot of a staircase, or the secondary ones at the landings. See Hollow newel, under Hollow.

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8394 We climbed the wide stairs to the second floor, our footsteps swallowed by thick carpet and heavy teakwood newels and handrails.
593 gibbous prev next
Definition
1. Swelling by a regular curve or surface; protuberant; convex; as, the moon is gibbous between the half-moon and the full moon. The bones will rise, and make a gibbous member. Wiseman. 2. Hunched; hump-backed. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne. -- Gib"bous*ly, adv. -- Gib"bous*ness, n. "gib": A male cat; a tomcat. [Obs.] To act like a cat. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl. A piece or slip of metal or wood, notched or otherwise, in a machine or structure, to hold other parts in place or bind them together, or to afford a bearing surface; -- usually held or adjusted by means of a wedge, key, or screw. Gib and key, or Gib and cotter (Steam Engine), the fixed wedge or gib, and the driving wedge,key, or cotter, used for tightening the strap which holds the brasses at the end of a connecting rod. To secure or fasten with a gib, or gibs; to provide with a gib, or gibs. Gibbed lathe, an engine lathe in which the tool carriage is held down to the bed by a gib instead of by a weight. To balk. See Jib, v. i. Youatt. "convex": Rising or swelling into a spherical or rounded form; regularly protuberant or bulging; -- said of a spherical surface or curved line when viewed from without, in opposition to concave. Drops of water naturally form themselves into figures with a convex surface. Whewell. Double convex, convex on both sides; convexo-convex. A convex body or surface. Half heaven's convex glitters with the flame. Tickell. Note: This word was often pronounced con-vex' by early writers, as by Milton, and occasionallyby later poets. "protuberant": Prominent, or excessively prominent; bulging beyond the surrounding or adjacent surface; swelling; as, a protuberant joint; a protuberant eye. -- Pro*tu"ber*ant*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15116 AT MIDNIGHT’S HORIZON the great milky wheel of stars rose wet and shivering from the waves, and the silver yellow light of a gibbous moon settled on the sea, glistening the tinsel-crested swell.
594 glissades prev next
Definition  (glissade)
A sliding, as down a snow slope in the Alps. Tyndall.

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25581 Tourist ferries bound for the caves on Elephanta Island, or returning to shore, rose up the wavelets and rolled over them in proud, practised glissades.
595 kutta prev next

Difficulty: 18.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27361 ‘Arrey, kutta nahin,’ I said.
596 palmists prev next

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 541 There were beggars and jugglers and acrobats, snake charmers and musicians and astrologers, palmists and pimps and pushers.
597 secessionist prev next
Definition
1. One who upholds secession. 2. (U.S. Hist.) One who holds to the belief that a State has the right to separate from the Union at its will. "hist": Hush; be silent; -- a signal for silence. Milton. "secession": 1. The act of seceding; separation from fellowship or association with others, as in a religious or political organization; withdrawal. 2. (U.S. Hist.) The withdrawal of a State from the national Union. Secession Church (in Scotland). See Seceder.

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2482 They’d come from the cyclone in West Bengal, the drought in Orissa, the cholera epidemic in Haryana, the secessionist fighting in Punjab.
598 oilskin prev next
Definition
Cloth made waterproof by oil.

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11947 Shantu gave me the oilskin cape he used to keep himself dry with whenever the taxi broke down, and the weathered black chauffeur’s cap that was his good-luck charm.
599 decolletage prev next
Definition
The upper border or part of a décolleté corsage.

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17165 The single-breasted jacket descended to a deep decolletage, and it was obvious that she was wearing nothing under the jacket.
600 brinkmanship prev next

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20619 The Americans hated it, because of the cold war and all that brinkmanship crap, so they destabilised the place by supporting the only guys who were really pissed off with the Russian puppets—the religious mullah-types.
601 vacillate prev next
Definition
1. To move one way and the other; to reel or stagger; to waver. [A spheroid] is always liable to shift and vacillatefrom one axis to another. Paley. 2. To fluctuate in mind or opinion; to be unsteady or inconstant; to waver. Syn. -- See Fluctuate. "inconstant": Not constant; not stable or uniform; subject to change of character, appearance, opinion, inclination, or purpose, etc.; not firm; unsteady; fickle; changeable; variable; -- said of persons or things; as, inconstant in love or friendship. "The inconstant moon." Shak. While we, inquiring phantoms of a day, Inconstant as the shadows we survey! Boyse. Syn. -- Mutable; fickle; volatile; unsteady; unstable; changeable; variable; wavering; fluctuating. "fluctuate": 1. To move as a wave; to roll hither and thither; to wave; to float backward and forward, as on waves; as, a fluctuating field of air. Blackmore. 2. To move now in one direction and now in another; to be wavering or unsteady; to be irresolute or undetermined; to vacillate. Syn. -- To waver; vacillate; hesitate; scruple. -- To Fluctuate, Vacillate, Waver. -- Fluctuate is applied both to things and persons and denotes that they move as they are acted upon. The stocks fluctuate; a man fluctuates. between conflicting influences. Vacillate and waver are applied to persons to represent them as acting themselves. A man vacillates when he goes backward and forward in his opinions and purposes, without any fixity of mind or principles. A man wavers when he shrinks back or hesitates at the approach of difficulty or danger. One who is fluctuating in his feelings is usually vacillating in resolve, and wavering in execution. To cause to move as a wave; to put in motion. [R.] And fluctuate all the still perfume. Tennyson. "spheroid": A body or figure approaching to a sphere, but not perfectly spherical; esp., a solid generated by the revolution of an ellipse about one of its axes. Oblate spheroid, Prolate spheroid. See Oblate, Prolate, and Ellipsoid.

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20850 Toward the end of 1985, as we prepared ourselves in Quetta for the crossing into Afghanistan, Asmatullah began to vacillate in his commitment to the war.
602 infrangible prev next
Definition
1. Not capable of being broken or separated into parts; as, infrangible atoms. [He] link'd their fetlocks with a golden band Infrangible. Pope. 2. Not to be infringed or violated.

Difficulty: 18.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25251 For them, the mafia was a family, an infrangible bond that held them from minute to minute and all the way to the dying breath.
603 handwoven prev next

Difficulty: 18.16
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3322 A range of products, from pottery to clothing to handwoven tatami mats, was arriving at the station for dispatch to the cities.
604 upraised prev next
Definition  (upraise)
To raise; to lift up.

Difficulty: 18.16
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19399 I floated, upraised on the supernatant liquid of the smack in the spoon, and the spoon was as big as a room.
605 crudity prev next
Definition
1. The condition of being crude; rawness. 2. That which is in a crude or undigested state; hence, superficial, undigested views, not reduced to order or form. "Cridities in the stomach." Arbuthnot. "rawness": The quality or state of being raw.

Difficulty: 18.16
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20334 I taunted him often about the crudity of his English, exaggerating my confusion and demanding that he repeat himself, that he stumble from one cryptic phrase to another until he cursed me in Urdu and Pashto, and withdrew into silence.
606 vertiginous prev next
Definition
1. Turning round; whirling; rotary; revolving; as, vertiginous motion. Some vertiginous whirl of fortune. De Quincey. 2. Affected with vertigo; giddy; dizzy. They [the angels] grew vertiginous, and fell from the battlements of heaven. Jer. Taylor. -- Ver*tig"i*nous*ly, adv. -- Ver*tig"i*nous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 18.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3366 Given the narrow road, the precipitous fall on the low side, the frequent columns of people and animals that lined the high side, the titanic mass of our swaying ark of a bus, and the vertiginous hostility with which the driver negotiated every curve, the speed was sufficient to relieve me of the need to sleep or relax on the ride.
607 weatherproofing prev next
Definition  (weatherproof)
Proof against rough weather.

Difficulty: 18.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6530 All manner of things that might be used as weatherproofing materials began to vanish from the vicinity of the slum.
608 kaleidoscopic prev next
Definition
Of, pertaining to, or formed by, a kaleidoscope; variegated. "variegated": Having marks or patches of different colors; as, variegated leaves, or flowers. Ladies like variegated tulips show. Pope.

Difficulty: 18.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17135 Some foreigners I’d dealt with had told me that they loathed the kaleidoscopic turmoil of musical numbers, bursting stochastically between weeping mothers, sighing infatuates, and brawling villains.
609 vaporous prev next
Definition
1. Having the form or nature of vapor. Holland. 2. Full of vapors or exhalations. Shak. The warmer and more vaporous air of the valleys. Derham. 3. Producing vapors; hence, windy; flatulent. Bacon. The food which is most vaporous and perspirable is the most easily digested. Arbuthnot. 4. Unreal; unsubstantial; vain; whimsical. Such vaporous speculations were inevitable. Carlyle. "flatulent": 1. Affected with flatus or gases generated in the alimentary canal; windy. 2. Generating, or tending to generate, wind in the stomach. Vegetables abound more with aërial particles than animal substances, and therefore are more flatulent. Arbuthnot. 3. Turgid with flatus; as, a flatulent tumor. Quincy. 4. Pretentious without substance or reality; puffy; empty; vain; as, a flatulent vanity. He is too flatulent sometimes, and sometimes too dry. Dryden. "unsubstantial": Lacking in matter or substance; visionary; chimerical. "perspirable": 1. Capable of being perspired. Sir T. Browne. 2. Emitting perspiration; perspiring. [R.] Bacon.

Difficulty: 18.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18474 Then a vision of Modena’s face flowed from the flickering lanterns and vaporous wreaths of smoke, and faded again to nothing before it was fully formed.
610 mantraps prev next
Definition  (mantrap)
1. A trap for catching trespassers. [Eng.] 2. A dangerous place, as an open hatch, into which one may fall.

Difficulty: 18.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21404 ‘He keeps setting mantraps all over the place.
611 mantrap prev next
Definition
1. A trap for catching trespassers. [Eng.] 2. A dangerous place, as an open hatch, into which one may fall.

Difficulty: 18.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21406 I’ve tried to explain to him that a mantrap has no conscience—it might just as easily kill a local nomad shepherd, or one of us, as a Russian or an Afghan soldier.
612 unprepossessing prev next
Definition  (prepossessing)
Tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive; as, a prepossessing manner. -- Pre`pos*sess"ing*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 18.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 968 I was about to enter the dark and unprepossessing restaurant when he stopped me, his expression suddenly grave.
613 deliverymen prev next

Difficulty: 18.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5277 They were deliverymen, waiting to enter through the main gate.
614 plasterwork prev next
Definition
Plastering used to finish architectural constructions, exterior or interior, especially that used for the lining of rooms. Ordinarly, mortar is used for the greater part of the work, and pure plaster of Paris for the moldings and ornaments. "plastering": 1. Same as Plaster, n., 2. 2. The act or process of overlaying with plaster. 3. A covering of plaster; plasterwork.

Difficulty: 18.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9684 The very large, oval space was open to the sky in the centre as if a great hole had been cut in the thick plasterwork of the ceiling.
615 tristesse prev next

Difficulty: 18.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16753 ‘I am an expert in the tristesse.
616 footrests prev next

Difficulty: 18.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24399 Every time I accelerated away, he dragged his feet on the road and fidgeted for several seconds until he found the footrests.
617 abashed prev next
Definition  (abash)
To destroy the self-possession of; to confuse or confound, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to put to shame; to disconcert; to discomfit. Abashed, the devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is. Milton. He was a man whom no check could abash. Macaulay. Syn. -- To confuse; confound; disconcert; shame. -- To Abash, Confuse, Confound. Abash is a stronger word than confuse, but not so strong as confound. We are abashed when struck either with sudden shame or with a humbling sense of inferiority; as, Peter was abashed in the presence of those who are greatly his superiors. We are confused when, from some unexpected or startling occurrence, we lose clearness of thought and self-possession. Thus, a witness is often confused by a severe cross-examination; a timid person is apt to be confused in entering a room full of strangers. We are confounded when our minds are overwhelmed, as it were, by something wholly unexpected, amazing, dreadful, etc., so that we have nothing to say. Thus, a criminal is usually confounded at the discovery of his guilt. Satan stood Awhile as mute, confounded what to say. Milton. "disconcert": 1. To break up the harmonious progress of; to throw into disorder or confusion; as, the emperor disconcerted the plans of his enemy. 2. To confuse the faculties of; to disturb the composure of; to discompose; to abash. The embrace disconcerted the daughter-in-law somewhat, as the caresses of old gentlemen unshorn and perfumed with tobacco might well do. Thackeray. Syn. -- To discompose; derange; ruffle; confuse; disturb; defeat; frustrate. Want of concert; disagreement. Sir W. Temple. "discomfit": 1. To scatter in fight; to put to rout; to defeat. And his proud foes discomfit in victorious field. Spenser. 2. To break up and frustrate the plans of; to balk Well, go with me and be not so discomfited. Shak. Syn. -- To defeat; overthrow; overpower; vanquish; conquer; baffle; frustrate; confound; discourage. Discomfited; overthrown. [Obs.] Rout; overthrow; discomfiture. Such as discomfort as shall quite despoil him. Milton. "clearness": The quality or state of being clear. Syn. -- Clearness, Perspicuity. Clearness has reference to our ideas, and springs from a distinct conception of the subject under consideration. Perspicuity has reference to the mode of expressing our ideas and belongs essentially to style. Hence we speak of a writer as having clear ideas, a clear arrangement, and perspicuous phraseology. We do at times speak of a person's having great clearness of style; but in such cases we are usually thinking of the clearness of his ideas as manifested in language. "Whenever men think clearly, and are thoroughly interested, they express themselves with perspicuity and force." Robertson.

Difficulty: 18.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 721 ‘Oh, I am understand,’ he said, looking abashed.
618 moviemakers prev next

Difficulty: 18.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17055 The moviemakers were a fairly affluent crowd of frequent flyers who might need black-market dol-lars and documents, from time to time.
619 mutilator prev next
Definition
One who mutilates.

Difficulty: 18.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19794 Could my friend, my friend I loved, really have been that ruthless, insane mutilator?
620 whump prev next

Difficulty: 18.01
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2085 Then there was the whump and crash as we slammed into a car that had stopped in front of us to make a turn.
621 beatitude prev next
Definition
1. Felicity of the highest kind; consummate bliss. 2. Any one of the nine declarations (called the Beatitudes), made in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 3-12), with regard to the blessedness of those who are distinguished by certain specified virtues. 3. (R. C. Ch.) Beatification. Milman. Syn. -- Blessedness; felicity; happiness. "blessedness": The state of being blessed; happiness; felicity; bliss; heavenly joys; the favor of God. The assurance of a future blessedness. Tillotson. Single blessedness, the unmarried state. "Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness." Shak. Syn. -- Delight; beatitude; ecstasy. See Happiness. "beatification": The act of beatifying, or the state of being beatified; esp., in the R. C. Church, the act or process of ascertaining and declaring that a deceased person is one of "the blessed," or has attained the second degree of sanctity, -- usually a stage in the process of canonization. "The beatification of his spirit." Jer. Taylor.

Difficulty: 18.01
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4566 Sooner or later, in the torment of endlessly ascending pain, every man of them assumed a luminous, transcendent beatitude.
622 automatism prev next
Definition
The state or quality of being automatic; the power of self- moving; automatic, mechanical, or involuntary action. (Metaph.) A theory as to the activity of matter.

Difficulty: 18.01
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19196 She sat down next to Didier, and he wrapped an arm around her in the automatism of grief and shock.
623 chud prev next
Definition
To champ; to bite. [Obs.] A. Stafford.

Difficulty: 17.98
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2429 ‘Kaigaram mad’chud!’ he roared, smiling for the first time.
624 dhals prev next

Difficulty: 17.98
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13212 Sitting around a clean sheet on the stone floor, the overseers dipped into the many dishes that went into their meals: rice, dhals, chutneys, fresh roti, fish, meat stews, chicken, and sweet desserts.
625 insouciance prev next
Definition
Carelessness; heedlessness; thoughtlessness; unconcern. "unconcern": Want of concern; absence of anxiety; freedom from solicitude; indifference. A listless unconcern, Cold, and averting from our neighbor's good. Thomson.

Difficulty: 17.98
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13706 But the strange mix of arrogance and insouciance that had permitted me to be the slum doctor was gone, and I didn’t expect it to return.
626 cheroots prev next
Definition  (cheroot)
A kind of cigar, originally brought from Mania, in the Philippine Islands; now often made of inferior or adulterated tabacco. "tabacco": Tobacco. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Difficulty: 17.98
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13988 He finished his beer, and lit one of the long, thin, cheroots that he smoked as much for the complement they made to his costume as for the enjoyment of the smoke.
627 kameez prev next

Difficulty: 17.98
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19544 She was wearing a red salwar kameez.
628 malai prev next

Difficulty: 17.95
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11992 We ate chicken byriani, malai kofta, vegetable korma, rice, curried vegetables, deep fried pieces of pumpkin, potato, onion, and cauliflower, hot buttered naan bread, dhal, papadams, and green mango chutney.
629 tranche prev next

Difficulty: 17.95
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18091 At eighteen he seized the first tranche of his inheritance and fled to Cairo.
630 scatological prev next

Difficulty: 17.95
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18395 The new group took its more erratic tone from Didier, who combined the expressive mordancy of his sarcasm with a proclivity for the vulgar, the obscene, and the scatological.
631 smouldered prev next
Definition  (smoulder)
1. To burn and smoke without flame; to waste away by a slow and supressed combustion. The smoldering dust did round about him smoke. Spenser. 2. To exist in a state of suppressed or smothered activity; to burn inwardly; as, a smoldering feud. To smother; to suffocate; to choke. [Obs.] Holinshed. Palsgrave. Smoke; smother. [Obs.] The smolder stops our nose with stench. Gascoigne. See Smolder. "inwardly": 1. In the inner parts; internally. Let Benedick, like covered fire, Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly. Shak. 2. Toward the center; inward; as, to curve inwardly. 3. In the heart or mind; mentally; privately; secretas, he inwardly repines. 4. Intimately; thoroughly. [Obs.] I shall desire to know him more inwardly. Beau. & Fl. "palsgrave": A count or earl who presided in the domestic court, and had the superintendence, of a royal household in Germany. "smolder": 1. To burn and smoke without flame; to waste away by a slow and supressed combustion. The smoldering dust did round about him smoke. Spenser. 2. To exist in a state of suppressed or smothered activity; to burn inwardly; as, a smoldering feud. To smother; to suffocate; to choke. [Obs.] Holinshed. Palsgrave. Smoke; smother. [Obs.] The smolder stops our nose with stench. Gascoigne.

Difficulty: 17.95
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23011 They burned and smouldered around the bare, erupted meat of his back.
632 lacerating prev next
Definition  (lacerate)
To tear; to rend; to separate by tearing; to mangle; as, to lacerate the flesh. Hence: To afflict; to torture; as, to lacerate the heart. 1. Rent; torn; mangled; as, a lacerated wound. By each other's fury lacerate Southey. 2. (Bot. & Zoöl.) Jagged, or slashed irregularly, at the end, or along the edge. "mangle": 1. To cut or bruise with repeated blows or strokes, making a ragged or torn wound, or covering with wounds; to tear in cutting; to cut in a bungling manner; to lacerate; to mutilate. Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail. Milton. 2. To mutilate or injure, in making, doing, or pertaining; as, to mangle a piece of music or a recitation. To mangle a play or a novel. Swift. A machine for smoothing linen or cotton cloth, as sheets, tablecloths, napkins, and clothing, by roller pressure. Mangle rack (Mach.), a contrivance for converting continuous circular motion into reciprocating rectilinear motion, by means of a rack and pinion, as in the mangle. The pinion is held to the rack by a groove in such a manner that it passes alternately from one side of the rack to the other, and thus gives motion to it in opposite directions, according to the side in which its teeth are engaged. -- Mangle wheel, a wheel in which the teeth, or pins, on its face, are interrupted on one side, and the pinion, working in them, passes from inside to outside of the teeth alternately, thus converting the continuous circular motion of the pinion into a reciprocating circular motion of the wheel. To smooth with a mangle, as damp linen or cloth. "rend": 1. To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to tear asunder; to split; to burst; as, powder rends a rock in blasting; lightning rends an oak. The dreadful thunder Doth rend the region. Shak. 2. To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force. An empire from its old foundations rent. Dryden. I will surely rend the kingdom from thee. 1 Kings xi. 11. To rap and rend. See under Rap, v. t., to snatch. Syn. -- To tear; burst; break; rupture; lacerate; fracture; crack; split. To be rent or torn; to become parted; to sepparate; to split. Jer. Taylor. "afflict": 1. To strike or cast down; to overthrow. [Obs.] "Reassembling our afflicted powers." Milton. 2. To inflict some great injury or hurt upon, causing continued pain or mental distress; to trouble grievously; to torment. They did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. Exod. i. 11. That which was the worst now least afflicts me. Milton. 3. To make low or humble. [Obs.] Spenser. Men are apt to prefer a prosperous error before an afflicted truth. Jer. Taylor. Syn. -- To trouble; grieve; pain; distress; harass; torment; wound; hurt. Afflicted. [Obs.] Becon. "irregularly": In an irregular manner.

Difficulty: 17.91
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 107 If you feel it at all, it’s a lacerating guilt, that first confrontation with the wretched of the earth.
633 noisome prev next
Definition
1. Noxious to health; hurtful; mischievous; unwholesome; insalubrious; destructive; as, noisome effluvia. "Noisome pestilence." Ps. xci. 3. 2. Offensive to the smell or other senses; disgusting; fetid. "Foul breath is noisome." Shak. -- Noi"some*ly, adv. -- Noi"some*ness, n. Syn. -- Noxious; unwholesome; insalubrious; mischievous; destructive. -- Noisome, Noxious. These words have to a great extent been interchanged; but there is a tendency to make a distinction between them, applying noxious to things that inflict evil directly; as, a noxious plant, noxious practices, etc., and noisome to things that operate with a remoter influence; as, noisome vapors, a noisome pestilence, etc. Noisome has the additional sense of disqusting. A garden may be free from noxious weeds or animals; but, if recently covered with manure, it may be filled with a noisome smell. "fetid": Having an offensive smell; stinking. Most putrefactions . . . smell either fetid or moldy. Bacon. "insalubrious": Not salubrious or healthful; unwholesome; as, an insalubrious air or climate.

Difficulty: 17.91
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Sen 4754 The air was hot and steamy, but the breeze dispersed the noisome stink from the latrine.
634 vibrio prev next
Definition
A genus of motile bacteria characterized by short, slightly sinuous filaments and an undulatory motion; also, an individual of this genus. "sinuous": Bending in and out; of a serpentine or undulating form; winding; crooked. -- Sin"u*ous*ly, adv. Streaking the ground with sinuous trace. Milton. Gardens bright with sinuous rills. Coleridge. "undulatory": Moving in the manner of undulations, or waves; resembling the motion of waves, which successively rise or swell rise or swell and fall; pertaining to a propagated alternating motion, similar to that of waves. Undulatory theory, or Wave theory (of light) (Opt.), that theory which regards its various phenomena as due to undulations in an ethereal medium, propagated from the radiant with immense, but measurable, velocities, and producing different impressions on the retina according to their amplitude and frequency, the sensation of brightness depending on the former, that of color on the latter. The undulations are supposed to take place, not in the direction of propagation, as in the air waves constituting sound, but transversely, and the various phenomena of refraction, polarization, interference, etc., are attributable to the different affections of these undulations in different circumstances of propagation. It is computed that the frequency of the undulations corresponding to the several colors of the spectrum ranges from 458 millions of millions per second for the extreme red ray, to 727 millions of millions for the extreme violet, and their lengths for the same colors, from the thirty-eight thousandth to the sixty thousandth part of an inch. The theory of ethereal undulations is applicable not only to the phenomena of light, but also to those of heat. "motile": 1. (Biol.) Having powers of self-motion, though unconscious; as, the motile spores of certain seaweeds. 2. Producing motion; as, motile powers.

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Sen 11484 The vibrio cholerae bacterium spreads from contaminated water and lodges itself in the small intestine, producing the fever, diarrhoea, and vomiting that cause dehydration and death.
635 housebreakers prev next
Definition  (housebreaker)
One who is guilty of the crime of housebreaking. "housebreaking": The act of breaking open and entering, with a felonious purpose, the dwelling house of another, whether done by day or night. See Burglary, and To break a house, under Break.

Difficulty: 17.91
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Sen 14885 Junkies and pickpockets and housebreakers from all over Europe and Africa stole gold jewellery and then sold it to their drug dealers and fences.
636 coquetry prev next
Definition
Attempts to attract admoration, notice, or love, for the mere gratification of vanity; trifling in love. "Little affectations of coquetry." Addison.

Difficulty: 17.88
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Sen 1261 ‘Don’t you have someone waiting for you somewhere, or someone you should go to?’ she asked, smiling with adroit but passionless coquetry.
637 foldout prev next

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Sen 17207 It was a tiny apartment with a foldout bed, a rudimentary kitchen, and a hundred noisy neighbours.
638 hipbone prev next

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Sen 23012 Bones—a hipbone and a shoulder blade—were clearly visible, and moving in the open wound as he crawled.
639 turnbuckles prev next

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Sen 26262 The smell of man-sweat, both fresh and fouled into the stitching of leather gloves and belts and turnbuckles, was so eyewateringly rancid that the gym was the only building in the city block that rats and cockroaches spurned.
640 gesticulated prev next
Definition  (gesticulate)
To make gestures or motions, as in speaking; to use postures. Sir T. Herbert. To represent by gesture; to act. [R.] B. Jonson.

Difficulty: 17.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3462 Whenever he spied men and women strolling on the road, he sounded the horn to draw their attention, gesticulated with his thumb to indicate the foreigner in the rear of the bus, and slowed to a crawl, so that each pedestrian could examine me with satisfactory thoroughness.
641 tableaux prev next

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4037 Every doorway of every house was crowded with faces, and each flash of lightning showed the frozen tableaux of wonder.
642 bleary prev next
Definition
Somewhat blear. "blear": 1. Dim or sore with water or rheum; -- said of the eyes. His blear eyes ran in gutters to his chin. Dryden. 2. Causing or caused by dimness of sight; dim. Power to cheat the eye with blear illusion. Milton. To make somewhat sore or watery, as the eyes; to dim, or blur, as the sight. Figuratively: To obscure (mental or moral perception); to blind; to hoodwink. That tickling rheums Should ever tease the lungs and blear the sight. Cowper. To blear the eye of, to deceive; to impose upon. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Difficulty: 17.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6766 Johnny raised the stick, and Joseph cowered, trying to focus his bleary eyes.
643 lank prev next
Definition
1. Slender and thin; not well filled out; not plump; shrunken; lean. Meager and lank with fasting grown. Swift. Who would not choose . . . to have rather a lank purse than an empty brain Barrow. 2. Languid; drooping.[Obs.] Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head. Milton. Lank hair, long, thin hair. Macaulay. To become lank; to make lank. [Obs.] Shak. G. Fletcher. "piteous": 1. Pious; devout. [Obs.] The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation. Wyclif. 2. Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate; tender. "[She] piteous of his case." Pope. She was so charitable and so pitous. Chaucer. 3. Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable; lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case. Spenser. The most piteous tale of Lear. Shak. 4. Paltry; mean; pitiful. "Piteous amends." Milton. Syn. -- Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful; sad; wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful; compassionate. -- Pit"e*ous*ly, adv. -- Pit"e*ous*ness, n. "languid": 1. Drooping or flagging from exhaustion; indisposed to exertion; without animation; weak; weary; heavy; dull. " Languid, powerless limbs. " Armstrong. Fire their languid souls with Cato's virtue. Addison. 2. Slow in progress; tardy. " No motion so swift or languid." Bentley. 3. Promoting or indicating weakness or heaviness; as, a languid day. Feebly she laugheth in the languid moon. Keats. Their idleness, aimless and languid airs. W. Black. Syn. -- Feeble; weak; faint; sickly; pining; exhausted; weary; listless; heavy; dull; heartless. -- Lan"guid*ly, adv. -- Lan"guid*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8313 A blessing of fresh wind cooled us, and hair that had been lank and wet with sweat was dry in seconds.
644 gambol prev next
Definition
A skipping or leaping about in frolic; a hop; a sportive prank. Dryden. To dance and skip about in sport; to frisk; to skip; to play in frolic, like boys or lambs. "sportive": Tending to, engaged in, or provocate of, sport; gay; froliscome; playful; merry. Is it I That drive thee from the sportive court Shak. -- Sport"ive*ly, adv. -- Sport"ive*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21537 The pack animals were in constant need of attention and, with the cargo concealed in a protected cave, the unburdened beasts were free to gambol and roam.
645 conciliate prev next
Definition
To win ower; to gain from a state of hostility; to gain the good will or favor of; to make friendly; to mollify; to propitiate; to appease. The rapacity of his father's administration had excited such universal discontent, that it was found expedient to conciliate the nation. Hallam. Syn. -- To reconcile; propitiate; appease; pacify. "propitiate": To appease to render favorable; to make propitious; to conciliate. Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rage, The god propitiate, and the pest assuage. Pope. To make propitiation; to atone. "mollify": 1. To soften; to make tender; to reduce the hardness, harshness, or asperity of; to qualify; as, to mollify the ground. With sweet science mollified their stubborn hearts. Spenser. 2. To assuage, as pain or irritation, to appease, as excited feeling or passion; to pacify; to calm. "rapacity": 1. The quality of being rapacious; rapaciousness; ravenousness; as, the rapacity of pirates; the rapacity of wolves. 2. The act or practice of extorting or exacting by oppressive injustice; exorbitant greediness of gain. "The rapacity of some ages." Sprat.

Difficulty: 17.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22492 ‘We should get out of the cold, now, and talk about it,’ Ahmed Zadeh put in quickly, hoping to conciliate.
646 majlis prev next

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Sen 6656 And several times a week, he opened his large main room to the public as a majlis, or forum, where the slum-dwellers could air their grievances or make requests.
647 cartloads prev next

Difficulty: 17.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7209 Those returning from the large markets with cartloads of vegetables or fish or dry goods for shops in the slum were harassed, had their goods spoiled, and were sometimes even assaulted.
648 dispiriting prev next
Definition  (dispirit)
1. To deprive of cheerful spirits; to depress the spirits of; to dishearten; to discourage. Not dispirited with my afflictions. Dryden. He has dispirited himself by a debauch. Collier. 2. To distill or infuse the spirit of. [Obs. or R.] This makes a man master of his learning, and dispirits the book into the scholar. Fuller. Syn. -- To dishearten; discourage; deject; damp; depress; cast down; intimidate; daunt; cow. "daunt": 1. To overcome; to conquer. [Obs.] 2. To repress or subdue the courage of; to check by fear of danger; to cow; to intimidate; to dishearten. Some presences daunt and discourage us. Glanvill. Syn. -- To dismay; appall. See Dismay. "debauch": To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce; as, to debauch one's self by intemperance; to debauch a woman; to debauch an army. Learning not debauched by ambition. Burke. A man must have got his conscience thoroughly debauched and hardened before he can arrive to the height of sin. South. Her pride debauched her judgment and her eyes. Cowley. 1. Excess in eating or drinking; intemperance; drunkenness; lewdness; debauchery. The first physicians by debauch were made. Dryden. 2. An act or occasion of debauchery. Silenus, from his night's debauch, Fatigued and sick. Cowley. "dishearten": To discourage; to deprive of courage and hope; to depress the spirits of; to deject. Regiments . . . utterly disorganized and disheartened. Macaulay. Syn. -- To dispirit; discourage; depress; deject; deter; terrify. "dispirited": Depressed in spirits; disheartened; daunted. -- Dis*pir"it*ed*ly, adv. -- Dis*pir"it*ed, n. "distill": 1. To drop; to fall in drops; to trickle. Soft showers distilled, and suns grew warm in vain. Pope. 2. To flow gently, or in a small stream. The Euphrates distilleth out of the mountains of Armenia. Sir W. Raleigh. 3. To practice the art of distillation. Shak. 1. To let fall or send down in drops. Or o'er the glebe distill the kindly rain. Pope. The dew which on the tender grass The evening had distilled. Drayton. 2. To obtain by distillation; to extract by distillation, as spirits, essential oil, etc.; to rectify; as, to distill brandy from wine; to distill alcoholic spirits from grain; to distill essential oils from flowers, etc.; to distill fresh water from sea water. "Distilling odors on me." Tennyson. 3. To subject to distillation; as, to distill molasses in making rum; to distill barley, rye, corn, etc. 4. To dissolve or melt. [R.] Swords by the lightning's subtle force distilled. Addison. "infuse": 1. To pour in, as a liquid; to pour (into or upon); to shed. That strong Circean liquor cease to infuse. Denham. 2. To instill, as principles or qualities; to introduce. That souls of animals infuse themselves Into the trunks of men. Shak. Why should he desire to have qualities infused into his son which himself never possessd Swift. 3. To inspire; to inspirit or animate; to fill; -- followed by with. Infuse his breast with magnanimity. Shak. Infusing him with self and vain conceit. Shak. 4. To steep in water or other fluid without boiling, for the propose of extracting medicinal qualities; to soak. One scruple of dried leaves is infused in ten ounces of warm water. Coxe. 5. To make an infusion with, as an ingredient; to tincture; to saturate. [R.] Bacon. Infusion. [Obs.] Spenser. "deject": 1. To cast down. [Obs. or Archaic] Christ dejected himself even unto the hells. Udall. Sometimes she dejects her eyes in a seeming civility; and many mistake in her a cunning for a modest look. Fuller. 2. To cast down the spirits of; to dispirit; to discourage; to dishearten. Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind. Pope. Dejected. [Obs.]

Difficulty: 17.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10514 Tariq had wounded the pack leader, and it hung back behind the others, dispiriting them for a few moments.
649 yowled prev next
Definition  (yowl)
To utter a loud, long, and mournful cry, as a dog; to howl; to yell. A loud, protracted, and mournful cry, as that of a dog; a howl. "protracted": Prolonged; continued. Protracted meeting,a religious meeting continued for many successive days. [U. S.] -- Pro*tract"ed*ly, adv. -- Pro*tract"ed*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12989 The men shrieked and yowled.
650 dispiritingly prev next
Definition  (dispirit)
1. To deprive of cheerful spirits; to depress the spirits of; to dishearten; to discourage. Not dispirited with my afflictions. Dryden. He has dispirited himself by a debauch. Collier. 2. To distill or infuse the spirit of. [Obs. or R.] This makes a man master of his learning, and dispirits the book into the scholar. Fuller. Syn. -- To dishearten; discourage; deject; damp; depress; cast down; intimidate; daunt; cow. "daunt": 1. To overcome; to conquer. [Obs.] 2. To repress or subdue the courage of; to check by fear of danger; to cow; to intimidate; to dishearten. Some presences daunt and discourage us. Glanvill. Syn. -- To dismay; appall. See Dismay. "debauch": To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce; as, to debauch one's self by intemperance; to debauch a woman; to debauch an army. Learning not debauched by ambition. Burke. A man must have got his conscience thoroughly debauched and hardened before he can arrive to the height of sin. South. Her pride debauched her judgment and her eyes. Cowley. 1. Excess in eating or drinking; intemperance; drunkenness; lewdness; debauchery. The first physicians by debauch were made. Dryden. 2. An act or occasion of debauchery. Silenus, from his night's debauch, Fatigued and sick. Cowley. "dishearten": To discourage; to deprive of courage and hope; to depress the spirits of; to deject. Regiments . . . utterly disorganized and disheartened. Macaulay. Syn. -- To dispirit; discourage; depress; deject; deter; terrify. "dispirited": Depressed in spirits; disheartened; daunted. -- Dis*pir"it*ed*ly, adv. -- Dis*pir"it*ed, n. "distill": 1. To drop; to fall in drops; to trickle. Soft showers distilled, and suns grew warm in vain. Pope. 2. To flow gently, or in a small stream. The Euphrates distilleth out of the mountains of Armenia. Sir W. Raleigh. 3. To practice the art of distillation. Shak. 1. To let fall or send down in drops. Or o'er the glebe distill the kindly rain. Pope. The dew which on the tender grass The evening had distilled. Drayton. 2. To obtain by distillation; to extract by distillation, as spirits, essential oil, etc.; to rectify; as, to distill brandy from wine; to distill alcoholic spirits from grain; to distill essential oils from flowers, etc.; to distill fresh water from sea water. "Distilling odors on me." Tennyson. 3. To subject to distillation; as, to distill molasses in making rum; to distill barley, rye, corn, etc. 4. To dissolve or melt. [R.] Swords by the lightning's subtle force distilled. Addison. "infuse": 1. To pour in, as a liquid; to pour (into or upon); to shed. That strong Circean liquor cease to infuse. Denham. 2. To instill, as principles or qualities; to introduce. That souls of animals infuse themselves Into the trunks of men. Shak. Why should he desire to have qualities infused into his son which himself never possessd Swift. 3. To inspire; to inspirit or animate; to fill; -- followed by with. Infuse his breast with magnanimity. Shak. Infusing him with self and vain conceit. Shak. 4. To steep in water or other fluid without boiling, for the propose of extracting medicinal qualities; to soak. One scruple of dried leaves is infused in ten ounces of warm water. Coxe. 5. To make an infusion with, as an ingredient; to tincture; to saturate. [R.] Bacon. Infusion. [Obs.] Spenser. "deject": 1. To cast down. [Obs. or Archaic] Christ dejected himself even unto the hells. Udall. Sometimes she dejects her eyes in a seeming civility; and many mistake in her a cunning for a modest look. Fuller. 2. To cast down the spirits of; to dispirit; to discourage; to dishearten. Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind. Pope. Dejected. [Obs.]

Difficulty: 17.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20472 Their conversations were dispiritingly calculating.
651 alluvial prev next
Definition
Pertaining to, contained in, or composed of, alluvium; relating to the deposits made by flowing water; washed away from one place and deposited in another; as, alluvial soil, mud, accumulations, deposits. "alluvium": Deposits of earth, sand, gravel, and other transported matter, made by rivers, floods, or other causes, upon land not permanently submerged beneath the waters of lakes or seas. Lyell.

Difficulty: 17.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20966 If it wasn’t for the sky in my blue-grey eyes and the alluvial gold in his, we might’ve been taken for father and son.
652 furled prev next
Definition  (furl)
To draw up or gather into close compass; to wrap or roll, as a sail, close to the yard, stay, or mast, or, as a flag, close to or around its staff, securing it there by a gasket or line. Totten.

Difficulty: 17.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22640 He held his standard, furled about the lance in his hand.
653 epicure prev next
Definition
1. A follower of Epicurus; an Epicurean. [Obs.] Bacon. 2. One devoted to dainty or luxurious sensual enjoyments, esp. to the luxuries of the table. Syn. -- Voluptuary; sensualist. "epicurean": 1. Pertaining to Epicurus, or following his philosophy. "The sect Epicurean." Milton. 2. Given to luxury; adapted to luxurious tastes; luxurious; pertaining to good eating. Courses of the most refined and epicurean dishes. Prescott. Epicurean philosophy. See Atomic philosophy, under Atomic. 1. A follower or Epicurus. 2. One given to epicurean indulgence. "sensualist": 1. One who is sensual; one given to the indulgence of the appetites or senses as the means of happiness. 2. One who holds to the doctrine of sensualism. "voluptuary": A voluptuous person; one who makes his physical enjoyment his chief care; one addicted to luxury, and the gratification of sensual appetites. A good-humored, but hard-hearted, voluptuary. Sir W. Scott. Syn. -- Sensualist; epicure. Voluptuous; luxurious.

Difficulty: 17.80
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14386 Its name didn’t appear in any of the guidebooks for tourists or the epicure columns in the daily newspapers.
654 adjured prev next
Definition  (adjure)
To charge, bind, or command, solemnly, as if under oath, or under the penalty of a curse; to appeal to in the most solemn or impressive manner; to entreat earnestly. Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho. Josh. vi. 26. The high priest . . . said . . . I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ. Matt. xxvi. 63. The commissioners adjured them not to let pass so favorable an opportunity of securing their liberties. Marshall.

Difficulty: 17.80
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21509 The Prophet Mohammed adjured his followers to return the peaceful greeting of a believer with an even more polite greeting.
655 dubba prev next

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Sen 25199 So we had to tie him up over a big dubba of acid, yaar.
656 pitta prev next
Definition
Any one of a large group of bright-colored clamatorial birds belonging to Pitta, and allied genera of the family Pittidæ. Most of the species are varied with three or more colors, such as blue, green, crimson, yellow, purple, and black. They are called also ground thrushes, and Old World ant thrushes; but they are not related to the true thrushes. Note: The pittas are most abundant in the East Indies, but some inhabit Southern Asia, Africa, and Australia. They live mostly upon the ground, and feed upon insects of various kinds. "clamatorial": Like or pertaining to the Clamatores. "genera": See Genus.

Difficulty: 17.77
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8328 ‘Charras pitta?’ she asked.
657 kofta prev next

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Sen 11992 We ate chicken byriani, malai kofta, vegetable korma, rice, curried vegetables, deep fried pieces of pumpkin, potato, onion, and cauliflower, hot buttered naan bread, dhal, papadams, and green mango chutney.
658 baje prev next

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Sen 20429 You go … Faloodah House … Bohri bazaar … today … saade char baje.’
659 helical prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to, or in the form of, a helix; spiral; as, a helical staircase; a helical spring. -- Hel"i*cal*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 17.77
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22158 I turned new parts on the turret lathe, and melted the helical metal shavings to make more parts.
660 swash prev next
Definition
An oval figure, whose moldings are oblique to the axis of the work. Moxon. Swash plate (Mach.), a revolving circular plate, set obliquely on its shaft, and acting as a cam to give a reciprocating motion to a rod in a direction parallel to the shaft. Soft, like fruit too ripe; swashy. [Prov. Eng.] Pegge. 1. To dash or flow noisily, as water; to splash; as, water swashing on a shallow place. 2. To fall violently or noisily. [Obs.] Holinshed. 3. To bluster; to make a great noise; to vapor or brag. 1. Impulse of water flowing with violence; a dashing or splashing of water. 2. A narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand bank, or between a sand bank and the shore, or a bar over which the sea washes. 3. Liquid filth; wash; hog mash. [Obs.] 4. A blustering noise; a swaggering behavior. [Obs.] 5. A swaggering fellow; a swasher. "swasher": One who makes a blustering show of valor or force of arms. Shak. "obliquely": In an oblique manner; not directly; indirectly. "Truth obliquely leveled." Bp. Fell. Declining from the noon of day, The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray. Pope His discourse tends obliquely to the detracting from others. Addison. "oblique": 1. Not erect or perpendicular; neither parallel to, nor at right angles from, the base; slanting; inclined. It has a direction oblique to that of the former motion. Cheyne. 2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister. The love we bear our friends... Hath in it certain oblique ends. Drayton. This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power. De Quincey. Then would be closed the restless, oblique eye. That looks for evil, like a treacherous spy. Wordworth. 3. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral. His natural affection in a direct line was strong, in an oblique but weak. Baker. Oblique angle, Oblique ascension, etc. See under Angle,Ascension, etc. -- Oblique arch (Arch.), an arch whose jambs are not at right angles with the face, and whose intrados is in consequence askew. -- Oblique bridge, a skew bridge. See under Bridge, n. -- Oblique case (Gram.), any case except the nominative. See Case, n. -- Oblique circle (Projection), a circle whose plane is oblique to the axis of the primitive plane. -- Oblique fire (Mil.), a fire the direction of which is not perpendicular to the line fired at. -- Oblique flank (Fort.), that part of the curtain whence the fire of the opposite bastion may be discovered. Wilhelm. -- Oblique leaf. (Bot.) (a) A leaf twisted or inclined from the normal position. (b) A leaf having one half different from the other. -- Oblique line (Geom.), a line that, meeting or tending to meet another, makes oblique angles with it. -- Oblique motion (Mus.), a kind of motion or progression in which one part ascends or descends, while the other prolongs or repeats the same tone, as in the accompanying example. -- Oblique muscle (Anat.), a muscle acting in a direction oblique to the mesial plane of the body, or to the associated muscles; -- applied especially to two muscles of the eyeball. -- Oblique narration. See Oblique speech. -- Oblique planes (Dialing), planes which decline from the zenith, or incline toward the horizon. -- Oblique sailing (Naut.), the movement of a ship when she sails upon some rhumb between the four cardinal points, making an oblique angle with the meridian. -- Oblique speech (Rhet.), speech which is quoted indirectly, or in a different person from that employed by the original speaker. -- Oblique sphere (Astron. & Geog.), the celestial or terrestrial sphere when its axis is oblique to the horizon of the place; or as it appears to an observer at any point on the earth except the poles and the equator. -- Oblique step (Mil.), a step in marching, by which the soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25º. It is not now practiced. Wilhelm. -- Oblique system of coördinates (Anal. Geom.), a system in which the coördinate axes are oblique to each other. An oblique line. 1. To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction. Projecting his person towards it in a line which obliqued from the bottom of his spine. Sir. W. Scott. 2. (Mil.) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; -- formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left. "swashy": Soft, like fruit that is too ripe; quashy; swash. [Prov. Eng.] "bluster": 1. To blow fitfully with violence and noise, as wind; to be windy and boisterous, as the weather. And ever-threatening storms Of Chaos blustering round. Milton. 2. To talk with noisy violence; to swagger, as a turbulent or boasting person; to act in a noisy, tumultuous way; to play the bully; to storm; to rage. Your ministerial directors blustered like tragic tyrants. Burke. To utter, or do, with noisy violence; to force by blustering; to bully. He bloweth and blustereth out . . . his abominable blasphemy. Sir T. More. As if therewith he meant to bluster all princes into a perfect obedience to his commands. Fuller. 1. Fitful noise and violence, as of a storm; violent winds; boisterousness. To the winds they set Their corners, when with bluster to confound Sea, air, and shore. Milton. 2. Noisy and violent or threatening talk; noisy and boastful language. L'Estrange. Syn. -- Noise; boisterousness; tumult; turbulence; confusion; boasting; swaggering; bullying. "blustering": 1. Exhibiting noisy violence, as the wind; stormy; tumultuous. A tempest and a blustering day. Shak. 2. Uttering noisy threats; noisy and swaggering; boisterous. "A blustering fellow." L'Estrange. "swashing": 1. Swaggering; hectoring. "A swashing and martial outside." Shak. 2. Resounding; crushing. "Swashing blow." Shak.

Difficulty: 17.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2016 It was an hour before noon, and the swash of traffic that coursed through that stone canyon was swollen by large numbers of runners pushing tiffin carts.
661 nightspot prev next

Difficulty: 17.74
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Sen 5572 Everyone knew that the restaurant at Haji Ali, like every other illegal nightspot in town that faked a close, would reopen in less than half an hour.
662 metron prev next

Difficulty: 17.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14719 They introduced a decimal system based on a unit of length that they called the metre, from the Greek word metron, which has the meaning of a measure.’
663 enfeebled prev next
Definition  (enfeeble)
To make feeble; to deprive of strength; to reduce the strength or force of; to weaken; to debilitate. Enfeebled by scanty subsistence and excessive toil. Prescott. Syn. -- To weaken; debilitate; enervate. "enervate": To deprive of nerve, force, strength, or courage; to render feeble or impotent; to make effeminate; to impair the moral powers of. A man . . . enervated by licentiousness. Macaulay. And rhyme began t' enervate poetry. Dryden. Syn. -- To weaken; enfeeble; unnerve; debilitate. Weakened; weak; without strength of force. Pope. "scanty": 1. Wanting amplitude or extent; narrow; small; not abundant. his dominions were very narrow and scanty. Locke. Now scantier limits the proud arch confine. Pope. 2. Somewhat less than is needed; insufficient; scant; as, a scanty supply of words; a scanty supply of bread. 3. Sparing; niggardly; parsimonius. In illustrating a point of difficulty, be not too scanty of words. I. Watts. Syn. -- Scant; narrow; small; poor; deficient; meager; scarce; chary; sparing; parsimonious; penurious; niggardly; grudging. "subsistence": 1. Real being; existence. Not only the things had subsistence, but the very images were of some creatures existing. Stillingfleet. 2. Inherency; as, the subsistence of qualities in bodies. 3. That which furnishes support to animal life; means of support; provisions, or that which produces provisions; livelihood; as, a meager subsistence. His viceroy could only propose to himself a comfortable subsistence out of the plunder of his province. Addison. 4. (Theol.) Same as Hypostasis, 2. Hooker. "debilitate": To impair the strength of; to weaken; to enfeeble; as, to debilitate the body by intemperance. Various ails debilitate the mind. Jenyns. The debilitated frame of Mr. Bertram was exhausted by this last effort. Sir W. Scott.

Difficulty: 17.72
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17517 He seemed to have recovered from the grief that had enfeebled him for many months after his wife’s death in the cholera epidemic.
664 decorousness prev next
Definition  (decorous)
Suitable to a character, or to the time, place, and occasion; marked with decorum; becoming; proper; seemly; befitting; as, a decorous speech; decorous behavior; a decorous dress for a judge. A decorous pretext the war. Motley. -- De*co"rous*ly, adv. -- De*co"rous*ness, n. "seemly": Suited to the object, occasion, purpose, or character; suitable; fit; becoming; comely; decorous. He had a seemly nose. Chaucer. I am a woman, lacking wit To make a seemly answer to such persons. Shak. Suspense of judgment and exercise of charity were safer and seemlier for Christian men than the hot pursuit of these controversies. Hooker. Syn. -- Becoming; fit; suitable; proper; appropriate; congruous; meet; decent; decorous. In a decent or suitable manner; becomingly. Suddenly a men before him stood, Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad, As one in city or court or place bred. Milton.

Difficulty: 17.72
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17613 Her long, curly blonde hair was pulled back from her face, and held in an elegant coiffure that complemented the decorousness of her modest, ivory-coloured pantsuit.
665 repudiation prev next
Definition
The act of repudiating, or the state of being repuddiated; as, the repudiation of a doctrine, a wife, a debt, etc. One who favors repudiation, especially of a public debt.

Difficulty: 17.72
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18725 Few of his family members could bring themselves to face the agony of that public repudiation of the ancient, gorgeously elaborate Hindu wedding they’d long planned for him.
666 bandmaster prev next
Definition
The conductor of a musical band.

Difficulty: 17.72
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27376 Worried that we’d never rid ourselves of the wedding band, I ran back to press a bundle of notes into the hand of their bandmaster, with instructions that he should turn right, away from us, and march along Marine Drive.
667 obtrusively prev next
Definition  (obtrusive)
Disposed to obtrude; inclined to intrude or thrust one's self or one's opinions upon others, or to enter uninvited; forward; pushing; intrusive. -- Ob*tru"sive*ly, adv. -- Ob*tru"sive*ness, n. Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired. Milton. "obtrude": 1. To thrust impertinently; to present without warrant or solicitation; as, to obtrude one's self upon a company. The objects of our senses obtrude their particular ideas upon our minds, whether we will or no. Lock. 2. To offer with unreasonable importunity; to urge unduly or against the will. Milton. To thrust one's self upon a company or upon attention; to intrude. Syn. -- To Obtrude, Intrude. To intrude is to thrust one's self into a place, society, etc., without right, or uninvited; to obtrude is to force one's self, remarks, opinions, etc., into society or upon persons with whom one has no such intimacy as to justify such boldness.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16850 They were all jobs that a gora could perform more successfully and less obtrusively than an Indian.
668 connivance prev next
Definition
1. Intentional failure or forbearance to discover a fault or wrongdoing; voluntary oversight; passive consent or co 2. (Law) Corrupt or guilty assent to wrongdoing, not involving actual participation in, but knowledge of, and failure to prevent or oppose it. Syn. -- See Collusion. "assent": To admit a thing as true; to express one's agreement, acquiescence, concurrence, or concession. Who informed the governor . . . And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so. Acts xxiv. 9. The princess assented to all that was suggested. Macaulay. Syn. -- To yield; agree; acquiesce; concede; concur. The act of assenting; the act of the mind in admitting or agreeing to anything; concurrence with approval; consent; agreement; acquiescence. Faith is the assent to any proposition, on the credit of the proposer. Locke. The assent, if not the approbation, of the prince. Prescott. Too many people read this ribaldry with assent and admiration. Macaulay. Royal assent, in England, the assent of the sovereign to a bill which has passed both houses of Parliament, after which it becomes law. Syn. -- Concurrence; acquiescence; approval; accord. -- Assent, Consent. Assent is an act of the understanding, consent of the will or feelings. We assent to the views of others when our minds come to the same conclusion with theirs as to what is true, right, or admissible. We consent when there is such a concurrence of our will with their desires and wishes that we decide to comply with their requests. The king of England gives his assent, not his consent, to acts of Parliament, because, in theory at least, he is not governed by personal feelings or choice, but by a deliberate, judgment as to the common good. We also use assent in cases where a proposal is made which involves but little interest or feeling. A lady may assent to a gentleman's opening the window; but if he offers himself in marriage, he must wait for her consent. "forbearance": The act of forbearing or waiting; the exercise of patience. He soon shall findForbearance no acquittance ere day end. Milton. 2. The quality of being forbearing; indulgence toward offenders or enemies; long-suffering. Have a continent forbearance, till the speed of his rage goeShak. Syn. -- Abstinence; refraining; lenity; mildness.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20476 But with a little luck and skilful connivance, the profiteers hoped, the army might remain in control of the country—and the well-established channels of corruption—for some years yet.
669 assiduous prev next
Definition
1. Constant in application or attention; devoted; attentive; unremitting. She grows more assiduous in her attendance. Addison. 2. Performed with constant diligence or attention; unremitting; persistent; as, assiduous labor. To weary him with my assiduous cries. Milton. Syn. -- Diligent; attentive; sedulous; unwearied; unintermitted; persevering; laborious; indefatigable. As*sid"u*ous*ly, adv. -- As*sid"u*ous*ness, n. "laborious": 1. Requiring labor, perseverance, or sacrifices; toilsome; tiresome. Dost thou love watchings, abstinence, or toil, Laborious virtues all Learn these from Cato. Addison. 2. Devoted to labor; diligent; industrious; as, a laborious mechanic. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ness, n. "sedulous": Diligent in application or pursuit; constant, steady, and persevering in business, or in endeavors to effect an object; steadily industrious; assiduous; as, the sedulous bee. What signifies the sound of words in prayer, without the affection of the heart, and a sedulous application of the proper means that may naturally lead us to such an end L'Estrange. Syn. -- Assiduous; diligent; industrious; laborious; unremitting; untiring; unwearied; persevering. -- Sed"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Sed"u*lous*ness, n. "persevering": Characterized by perseverance; persistent. -- Per`se*ver"ing*ly, adv. "unremitting": Not remitting; incessant; continued; persevering; as, unremitting exertions. Cowper. -- Un`re*mit"ting*ly, adv. -- Un`re*mit"ting*ness, n. "unwearied": Not wearied; not fatigued or tired; hence, persistent; not tiring or wearying; indefatigable. -- Un*wea"ried*ly, adv. -- Un*wea"ried*ness, n. "indefatigable": Incapable of being fatigued; not readily exhausted; unremitting in labor or effort; untiring; unwearying; not yielding to fatigue; as, indefatigable exertions, perseverance, application. "A constant, indefatigable attendance." South. Upborne with indefatigable wings. Milton. Syn. -- Unwearied; untiring; persevering; persistent.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22908 I wished that I’d been more assiduous in my study of Dari and Pashto during the long wait in Quetta.
670 circumscribed prev next
Definition  (circumscribe)
1. to write or engare around. [R.] Thereon is circumscribed this epitaph. Ashmole. 2. To inclose within a certain limit; to hem in; to surround; to bound; to confine; to restrain. To circumscribe royal power. Bancroft. 3. (Geom.) To draw a line around si as to touch at certain points without cutting. See Inscribe, 5. Syn. -- To bound; limit; restrict; confine; abridge; restrain; environ; encircle; inclose; encompass. "inscribe": 1. To write or engrave; to mark down as something to be read; to imprint. Inscribe a verse on this relenting stone. Pope. 2. To mark with letters, charakters, or words. O let thy once lov'd friend inscribe thy stone. Pope. 3. To assign or address to; to commend to by a shot address; to dedicate informally; as, to inscribe an ode to a friend. Dryden. 4. To imprint deeply; to impress; to stamp; as, to inscribe a sentence on the memory. 5. (Geom.) To draw within so as to meet yet not cut the boundaries. Note: A line is inscribed in a circle, or in a sphere, when its two ends are in the circumference of the circle, or in the surface of the sphere. A triangle is inscribed in another triangle, when the three angles of the former are severally on the three sides of the latter. A circle is inscribed in a polygon, when it touches each side of the polygon. A sphere is inscribed in a polyhedron, when the sphere touches each boundary plane of the polyhedron. The latter figure in each case is circumscribed about the former. "environ": To surround; to encompass; to encircle; to hem in; to be round about; to involve or envelop. Dwelling in a pleasant glade, With mountains round about environed. Spenser. Environed he was with many foes. Shak. Environ me with darkness whilst I write. Donne. About; around. [Obs.] Lord Godfrey's eye three times environ goes. Fairfax. "encircle": To form a circle about; to inclose within a circle or ring; to surround; as, to encircle one in the arms; the army encircled the city. Her brows encircled with his serpent rod. Parnell. Syn. -- To encompass; surround; environ; inclose. "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman. "abridge": 1. To make shorter; to shorten in duration; to lessen; to diminish; to curtail; as, to abridge labor; to abridge power or rights. "The bridegroom . . . abridged his visit." Smollett. She retired herself to Sebaste, and abridged her train from state to necessity. Fuller. 2. To shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense; to epitomize; to condense; as, to abridge a history or dictionary. 3. To deprive; to cut off; -- followed by of, and formerly by from; as, to abridge one of his rights. "encompass": To circumscribe or go round so as to surround closely; to encircle; to inclose; to environ; as, a ring encompasses the finger; an army encompasses a city; a voyage encompassing the world. Shak. A question may be encompassed with difficulty. C. J. Smith. The love of all thy sons encompass thee. Tennyson. Syn. -- To encircle; inclose; surround; include; environ; invest; hem in; shut up. "thereon": On that or this. Chaucer. Then the king said, Hang him thereon. Esther vii. 9.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24568 I stood up and brushed myself off in a very narrow, low corridor that snaked ahead, following the shapes and corners of the rooms it circumscribed.
671 paisano prev next
Definition
The chaparral cock. "chaparral": 1. A thicket of low evergreen oaks. 2. An almost impenetrable thicket or succession of thickets of thorny shrubs and brambles. Chaparral cock; fem. Chaparral hen (Zoöl.), a bird of the cuckoo family (Geococcyx Californianus), noted for running with great speed. It ranges from California to Mexico and eastward to Texas; -- called also road runner, ground cuckoo, churea, and snake killerit is the state bird of New Mexico.

Difficulty: 17.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25446 The waiters greeted me with broad smiles, calling me gao-alay, or countryman, the Indian equivalent of the Italian paisano.
672 undulant prev next
Definition
Undulating. [R.] "undulating": Rising and falling like waves; resembling wave form or motion; undulatory; rolling; wavy; as, an undulating medium; undulating ground. -- Un"du*la`ting*ly. adv.

Difficulty: 17.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3652 Under the indigo banner of early-evening sky, on the scratch of track between fields of undulant maize and millet, we spread out the colours of India, the yellows and reds and peacock blues of shirts and lungi wraps and saris.
673 tremulously prev next
Definition  (tremulous)
1. Shaking; shivering; quivering; as, a tremulous limb; a tremulous motion of the hand or the lips; the tremulous leaf of the poplar. 2. Affected with fear or timidity; trembling. The tender, tremulous Christian. Dr. H. More. -- Trem"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Trem"u*lous*ness, n. "timidity": The quality or state of being timid; timorousness; timidness.

Difficulty: 17.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7079 I took the two steps, reached out tremulously, and slowly pressed myself against the shaggy fur of Kano the bear.
674 suborn prev next
Definition
1. (Law) To procure or cause to take a false oath amounting to perjury, such oath being actually taken. Sir W. O. Russell. 2. To procure privately, or by collusion; to procure by indirect means; to incite secretly; to instigate. Thou art suborned against his honor. Shak. Those who by despair suborn their death. Dryden.

Difficulty: 17.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8040 Legend had it that she’d been the mistress of a KGB officer who’d employed her unique beauty to suborn prominent Congress Party officials.
675 filmi prev next

Difficulty: 17.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18699 There was a certain reciprocal cachet in the connection: the filmi types, as they were known in Bollywood, found it exhilarating to be associated, at a safe distance, with the notorious mafia don, and the Khan himself wasn’t indifferent to the glamour that laminated the movie world.
676 coalmines prev next

Difficulty: 17.64
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19510 They’re the canaries, kind of, in the coalmines of our hearts.
677 timorousness prev next
Definition  (timorous)
1. Fearful of danger; timid; deficient in courage. Shak. 2. Indicating, or caused by, fear; as, timorous doubts. "The timorous apostasy of chuchmen." Milman. -- Tim"or*ous*ly, adv. -- Tim"or*ous*ness, n. "apostasy": An abandonment of what one has voluntarily professed; a total desertion of departure from one's faith, principles, or party; esp., the renunciation of a religious faith; as, Julian's apostasy from Christianity.

Difficulty: 17.64
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20292 The horses watched us with that peculiarly equine mix of white-eyed timorousness and snorting condescension.
678 ministrations prev next
Definition  (ministration)
The act of ministering; service; ministry. "The days of his ministration." Luke i. 23.

Difficulty: 17.64
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22860 Mahmoud Melbaaf, the Iranian who’d been with us since the Karachi taxi ride, was so tender and devoted and loving in his ministrations that my eyes went again and again to his calm, strong face as he worked and prayed.
679 seacoast prev next
Definition
The shore or border of the land adjacent to the sea or ocean. Also used adjectively. "adjectively": In the manner of an adjective; as, a word used adjectively.

Difficulty: 17.62
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4753 Once past the latrines and within the first lane of huts, however, there were fitful gusts of wind from a wide arc of seacoast that formed the furthermost edge of the slum.
680 effete prev next
Definition
No longer capable of producing young, as an animal, or fruit, as the earth; hence, worn out with age; exhausted of energy; incapable of efficient action; no longer productive; barren; sterile. Effete results from virile efforts. Mrs. Browning If they find the old governments effete, worn out, . . . they may seek new ones. Burke.

Difficulty: 17.62
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8898 Life and death, love and hate, loyalty and betrayal,’ Abdul Ghani explained, waving a plump hand in effete little circles with each couplet.
681 professorial prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to a professor; as, the professional chair; professional interest.

Difficulty: 17.62
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15053 ‘As I said, we’re having this discussion about what it is that motivates people,’ Scorpio George pressed on, his Canadian accent and professorial manner combining in the documentary voice-over style that most irritated his English friend.
682 chastened prev next
Definition
Corrected; disciplined; refined; purified; toned down. Sir. W. Scott. Of such a finished chastened purity. Tennyson.

Difficulty: 17.62
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18450 ‘Nothing happened,’ he replied, puzzled by my irritation, and somewhat chastened.
683 leider prev next

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1243 ‘Ja, leider.
684 kaftan prev next
Definition
See Caftan. "caftan": A garment worn throughout the Levant, consisting of a long gown with sleeves reaching below the hands. It is generally fastened by a belt or sash. To clothe with a caftan. [R.] The turbaned and caftaned damsel. Sir W. Scott.

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2290 There were long silk shirts that descended to the knee and were fastened with pearl buttons, from neck to waist; kaftan robes in plain colours or stripes; hooded cloaks that resembled the garb of monks; and an endless variety of skull caps, in white or beaded colours, and turbans in yellow, red, and electric blue.
685 haymaker prev next
Definition
1. One who cuts and cures hay. 2. A machine for curing hay in rainy weather.

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4291 Beside me, Prabaker went down once, leapt to his feet, and collected a wild haymaker that sent him dazed and sprawling.
686 stippled prev next
Definition  (stipple)
1. To engrave by means of dots, in distinction from engraving in lines. The interlaying of small pieces can not altogether avoid a broken, stippled, spotty effect. Milman. 2. To paint, as in water colors, by small, short touches which together produce an even or softly graded surface. A mode of execution which produces the effect by dots or small points instead of lines. 2. (Paint.) A mode of execution in which a flat or even tint is produced by many small touches. "engrave": To deposit in the grave; to bury. [Obs.] "Their corses to engrave." Spenser. 1. To cut in; to make by incision. [Obs.] Full many wounds in his corrupted flesh He did engrave. Spenser. 2. To cut with a graving instrument in order to form an inscription or pictorial representation; to carve figures; to mark with incisions. Like . . . . a signet thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel. Ex. xxviii. 11. 3. To form or represent by means of incisions upon wood, stone, metal, or the like; as, to engrave an inscription. 4. To impress deeply; to infix, as if with a graver. Engrave principles in men's minds. Locke.

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8541 More sweat stippled her upper lip, dissolving in the tears.
687 stocktaking prev next

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11249 There were few places in the city better suited to the spiritual and physical stocktaking that a wanted man worries himself with, when the omens are bad enough.
688 legitimised prev next

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11797 In a curious mix of pride and shame, my presence legitimised their crimes.
689 stipple prev next
Definition
1. To engrave by means of dots, in distinction from engraving in lines. The interlaying of small pieces can not altogether avoid a broken, stippled, spotty effect. Milman. 2. To paint, as in water colors, by small, short touches which together produce an even or softly graded surface. A mode of execution which produces the effect by dots or small points instead of lines. 2. (Paint.) A mode of execution in which a flat or even tint is produced by many small touches. "engrave": To deposit in the grave; to bury. [Obs.] "Their corses to engrave." Spenser. 1. To cut in; to make by incision. [Obs.] Full many wounds in his corrupted flesh He did engrave. Spenser. 2. To cut with a graving instrument in order to form an inscription or pictorial representation; to carve figures; to mark with incisions. Like . . . . a signet thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel. Ex. xxviii. 11. 3. To form or represent by means of incisions upon wood, stone, metal, or the like; as, to engrave an inscription. 4. To impress deeply; to infix, as if with a graver. Engrave principles in men's minds. Locke.

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22799 When the attack was over, we searched among the blackened stipple and crater of the compound.
690 gesticulating prev next
Definition  (gesticulate)
To make gestures or motions, as in speaking; to use postures. Sir T. Herbert. To represent by gesture; to act. [R.] B. Jonson.

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23314 That information inspired a little gesticulating buzz of discussion that was more animated and partisan than any of the political or religious debates that had occasionally stirred among the men.
691 gloweringly prev next
Definition  (glower)
to look intently; to stare angrily or with a scowl. Thackeray.

Difficulty: 17.60
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23805 The black-and-white photograph showed almost all the men of Khader’s mujaheddin unit assembled for the kind of formal portrait that makes the people of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India seem more stiff and gloweringly self-conscious than they really are.
692 purplish prev next
Definition
Somewhat purple. Boyle.

Difficulty: 17.57
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9805 A ridge of purplish scar tissue was prominent on the brown skin of his forehead.
693 courgettes prev next

Difficulty: 17.57
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12851 The eyes and bruises, cut from potatoes, were used, as were the hard ends of courgettes, the papery outer skins of onions, and the muddy scrapings from turnips.
694 dreamily prev next
Definition
As if in a dream; softly; slowly; languidly. Longfellow.

Difficulty: 17.57
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15257 ‘That’s good,’ she said dreamily, wistfully, looking away.
695 doit prev next
Definition
1. A small Dutch coin, worth about half a farthing; also, a similar small coin once used in Scotland; hence, any small piece of money. Shak. 2. A thing of small value; as, I care not a doit.

Difficulty: 17.57
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22051 I’m right not to trust any of you … You want to kill me … All of you … You want me dead … But it’s all right … I don’t mind … I give you my permission … I want you to doit…
696 burnished prev next
Definition  (burnish)
To cause to shine; to make smooth and bright; to polish; specifically, to polish by rubbing with something hard and smooth; as, to burnish brass or paper. The frame of burnished steel, that east a glare From far, and seemed to thaw the freezing air. Dryden. Now the village windows blaze, Burnished by the setting sun. Cunningham. Burnishing machine, a machine for smoothing and polishing by compression, as in making paper collars. To shine forth; to brighten; to become smooth and glossy, as from swelling or filling out; hence, to grow large. A slender poet must have time to grow, And spread and burnish as his brothers do. Dryden. My thoughts began to burnish, sprout, and swell. Herbert. The effect of burnishing; gloss; brightness; luster. Crashaw. "luster": One who lusts. A period of five years; a lustrum. Both of us have closed the tenth luster. Bolingbroke. 1. Brilliancy; splendor; brightness; glitter. The right mark and very true luster of the diamond. Sir T. More. The scorching sun was mounted high, In all its luster, to the noonday sky. Addison. Note: There is a tendency to limit the use of luster, in this sense, to the brightness of things which do not shine with their own light, or at least do not blaze or glow with heat. One speaks of the luster of a diamond, or of silk, or even of the stars, but not often now of the luster of the sun, a coal of fire, or the like. 2. Renown; splendor; distinction; glory. His ancestors continued about four hundred years, rather without obscurity than with any great luster. Sir H. Wotton. 3. A candlestick, chandelier, girandole, or the like, generally of an ornamental character. Pope. 4. (Min.) The appearance of the surface of a mineral as affected by, or dependent upon, peculiarities of its reflecting qualities. Note: The principal kinds of luster recognized are: metallic, adamantine, vitreous, resinous, greasy, pearly, and silky. With respect to intensity, luster is characterized as splendent, shining, glistening, glimmering, and dull. 5. A substance which imparts luster to a surface, as plumbago and some of the glazes. 6. A fabric of wool and cotton with a lustrous surface, -- used for women's dresses. Luster ware, earthenware decorated by applying to the glazing metallic oxides, which acquire brilliancy in the process of baking. To make lustrous. [R. & Poetic] Flooded and lustered with her loosened gold. Lowell. "smoothing": fr. Smooth, v. Smoothing iron, an iron instrument with a polished face, for smoothing clothes; a sadiron; a flatiron. -- Smoothing plane, a short, finely set plane, for smoothing and finishing work.

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7313 Her black hair was free, and burnished with copper tints by the sun.
697 coifed prev next
Definition
Wearing a coif.

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8710 The hair was dark and elaborately coifed, falling in ringlets that framed her round and somewhat plump face.
698 connived prev next
Definition  (connive)
1. To open and close the eyes rapidly; to wink. [Obs.] The artist is to teach them how to nod judiciously, and to connive with either eye. Spectator. 2. To close the eyes upon a fault; to wink (at); to fail or forbear by intention to discover an act; to permit a proceeding, as if not aware of it; -- usually followed by at. To connive at what it does not approve. Jer. Taylor. In many of these, the directors were heartily concurring; in most of them, they were encouraging, and sometimes commanding; in all they were conniving. Burke. The government thought it expedient, occasionally, to connive at the violation of this rule. Macaulay. To shut the eyes to; to overlook; to pretend not to see. [R. & Obs.] "Divorces were not connived only, but with eye open allowed." Milton. "judiciously": In a judicious manner; with good judgment; wisely. "forbear": An ancestor; a forefather; -- usually in the plural. [Scot.] "Your forbears of old." Sir W. Scott. 1. To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay. Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear 1 Kinds xxii. 6. 2. To refuse; to decline; to give no heed. Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. Ezek. ii. 7. 3. To control one's self when provoked. The kindest and the happiest pair Will find occasion to forbear. Cowper. Both bear and forbear. Old Proverb. 1. To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up; as, to forbear the use of a word of doubdtful propriety. But let me that plunder forbear. Shenstone. The King In open battle or the tilting field Forbore his own advantage. Tennyson. 2. To treat with consideration or indulgence. Forbearing one another in love. Eph. iv. 2. 3. To cease from bearing. [Obs.] Whenas my womb her burden would forbear. Spenser. "concurring": Agreeing. Concurring figure (Geom.), one which, being laid on another, exactly meets every part of it, or one which correspondends with another in all its parts.

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11555 The truth was that while my words warned her away to safety, my fanatic heart connived with my eyes to make her stay.
699 formulaic prev next

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18724 He’d responded to the tears and pleading of his loved ones with one formulaic phrase: This is the modern India, yaar.
700 underbite prev next

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19808 The anger in him was so close to the surface that he trembled with it, and opened his mouth unconsciously to bare his teeth in an underbite.
701 pugnaciously prev next
Definition  (pugnacious)
Disposed to fight; inclined to fighting; quarrelsome; fighting. --Pug*na"cious*ly, adv. -- Pug*na"cious*ness, n. "quarrelsome": Apt or disposed to quarrel; given to brawls and contention; easily irritated or provoked to contest; irascible; choleric. Syn. -- Pugnacious; irritable; irascible; brawling; choleric; fiery; petulant. -- Quar"rel*some*ly, adv. -- Quar"rel*some*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.55
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27584 ‘I should?’ he asked, thrusting his face forward pugnaciously.
702 adroit prev next
Definition
Dexterous in the use of the hands or in the exercise of the mental faculties; exhibiting skill and readiness in avoiding danger or escaping difficulty; ready in invention or execution; -- applied to persons and to acts; as, an adroit mechanic, an adroit reply. "Adroit in the application of the telescope and quadrant." Horsley. "He was adroit in intrigue." Macaulay. Syn. -- Dexterous; skillful; expert; ready; clever; deft; ingenious; cunning; ready-witted. "deft": Apt; fit; dexterous; clever; handy; spruce; neat. [Archaic or Poetic] "The deftest way." Shak. "Deftest feats." Gay. The limping god, do deft at his new ministry. Dryden. Let me be deft and debonair. Byron. "dexterous": 1. Ready and expert in the use of the body and limbs; skillful and active with the hands; handy; ready; as, a dexterous hand; a dexterous workman. 2. Skillful in contrivance; quick at inventing expedients; expert; as, a dexterous manager. Dexterous the craving, fawning crowd to quit. Pope. 3. Done with dexterity; skillful; artful; as, dexterous management. "Dexterous sleights of hand." Trench. Syn. -- Adroit; active; expert; skillful; clever; able; ready; apt; handy; versed.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1261 ‘Don’t you have someone waiting for you somewhere, or someone you should go to?’ she asked, smiling with adroit but passionless coquetry.
703 ennobling prev next
Definition  (ennoble)
1. To make noble; to elevate in degree, qualities, or excellence; to dignify. "Ennobling all that he touches." Trench. What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards. Pope. 2. To raise to the rank of nobility; as, to ennoble a commoner. Syn. -- To raise; dignify; exalt; elevate; aggrandize. "aggrandize": 1. To make great; to enlarge; to increase; as, to aggrandize our conceptions, authority, distress. 2. To make great or greater in power, rank, honor, or wealth; -- applied to persons, countries, etc. His scheme for aggrandizing his son. Prescott. 3. To make appear great or greater; to exalt. Lamb. Syn. -- To augment; exalt; promote; advance. To increase or become great. [Obs.] Follies, continued till old age, do aggrandize. J. Hall. "exalt": 1. To raise high; to elevate; to lift up. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. Is. xiv. 13. Exalt thy towery head, and lift thine eyes Pope. 2. To elevate in rank, dignity, power, wealth, character, or the like; to dignify; to promote; as, to exalt a prince to the throne, a citizen to the presidency. Righteousness exalteth a nation. Prov. xiv. 34. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke xiv. 11. 3. To elevate by prise or estimation; to magnify; to extol; to glorify. "Exalt ye the Lord." Ps. xcix. 5. In his own grace he doth exalt himself. Shak. 4. To lift up with joy, pride, or success; to inspire with delight or satisfaction; to elate. They who thought they got whatsoever he lost were mightily exalted. Dryden. 5. To elevate the tone of, as of the voice or a musical instrument. Is. xxxvii. 23. Now Mars, she said, let Fame exalt her voice. Prior. 6. (Alchem.) To render pure or refined; to intensify or concentrate; as, to exalt the juices of bodies. With chemic art exalts the mineral powers. Pope.

Difficulty: 17.53
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Sen 3532 With all due respect to the Mahatma, however, it’s not until you live and work with India’s farmers that you fully appreciate the gentle and ennobling beauty of that simple wrap of fabric.
704 tripartite prev next
Definition
1. Divided into three parts; triparted; as, a tripartite leaf. 2. Having three corresponding parts or copies; as, to make indentures tripartite. A. Smith. 3. Made between three parties; as, a tripartite treaty. "triparted": 1. (Her.) Parted into three piece; having three parts or pieces; -- said of the field or of a bearing; as, a cross triparted. 2. (Bot.) Divided nearly to the base into three segments or lobes.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5925 It was a lush, tripartite harmony built upon a simple melody and improvised cadenzas.
705 festooned prev next
Definition  (festoon)
1. A garland or wreath hanging in a depending curve, used in decoration for festivals, etc.; anything arranged in this way. 2. (Arch. & Sculp.) A carved ornament consisting of flowers, and leaves, intermixed or twisted together, wound with a ribbon, and hanging or depending in a natural curve. See Illust. of Bucranium. To form in festoons, or to adorn with festoons. "sculp": To sculpture; to carve; to engrave. [Obs. or Humorous.] Sandys. "bucranium": A sculptured ornament, representing an ox skull adorned with wreaths, etc.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7180 Even after the monkey men bought them their own supply of the baubles, and festooned their hairy arms and legs with them, the monkeys still found the theft of such jewellery irresistible.
706 convulsed prev next
Definition  (convulse)
1. To contract violently and irregulary, as the muscular parts of an animal body; to shake with irregular spasms, as in excessive laughter, or in agony from grief or pain. With emotions which checked his voice and convulsed his powerful frame. Macaulay. 2. To agitate greatly; to shake violently. The world is convulsed by the agonies of great nations. Macaulay. Syn. -- To agitate; disturb; shake; tear; rend. "rend": 1. To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to tear asunder; to split; to burst; as, powder rends a rock in blasting; lightning rends an oak. The dreadful thunder Doth rend the region. Shak. 2. To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force. An empire from its old foundations rent. Dryden. I will surely rend the kingdom from thee. 1 Kings xi. 11. To rap and rend. See under Rap, v. t., to snatch. Syn. -- To tear; burst; break; rupture; lacerate; fracture; crack; split. To be rent or torn; to become parted; to sepparate; to split. Jer. Taylor.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12173 Within the velvet cloaks of tenderness, our backs convulsed in quivering heat, pushing heat, pushing muscles to complete what minds begin and bodies always win.
707 genuflecting prev next
Definition  (genuflect)
To bend the knee, as in worship.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14584 Khader stared at the vessels, which were shifting and genuflecting at their moorings on the lapping tide.
708 wale prev next
Definition
1. A streak or mark made on the skin by a rod or whip; a stripe; a wheal. See Wheal. Holland. 2. A ridge or streak rising above the surface, as of cloth; hence, the texture of cloth. Thou 'rt rougher far, And of a coarser wale, fuller of pride. Beau & Fl. 3. (Carp.) A timber bolted to a row of piles to secure them together and in position. Knight. 4. (Naut.) (a) pl. Certain sets or strakes of the outside planking of a vessel; as, the main wales, or the strakes of planking under the port sills of the gun deck; channel wales, or those along the spar deck, etc. (b) A wale knot, or wall knot. Wale knot. (Naut.) See Wall knot, under 1st Wall. 1. To mark with wales, or stripes. 2. To choose; to select; specifically (Mining), to pick out the refuse of (coal) by hand, in order to clean it. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.] "planking": 1. The act of laying planks; also, planks, collectively; a series of planks in place, as the wooden covering of the frame of a vessel. 2. The act of splicing slivers. See Plank, v. t., 4. "wheal": A pustule; a whelk. Wiseman. 1. A more or less elongated mark raised by a stroke; also, a similar mark made by any cause; a weal; a wale. 2. Specifically (Med.), a flat, burning or itching eminence on the skin, such as is produced by a mosquito bite, or in urticaria. A mine.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16538 It swelled, in my mind, until it was huge: until the pattern of ridges on the handle was as large as the wale of bark on a cork tree.
709 chador prev next

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16810 Once again we sat in silence and allowed our eyes to rove the passing crowds, following a man in a blue turban in one instant, and a woman in a black mask, veil, and chador the next.
710 laneway prev next

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18810 It was a nearly squalid three-storey building in a laneway parallel to Kinshasa’s long main street.
711 languorously prev next
Definition  (languorous)
Producing, or tending to produce, languor; characterized by languor. [Obs. or Poetic] Whom late I left in languorous constraint. Spenser. To wile the length from languorous hours, and draw The sting from pain. Tennyson. "languor": 1. A state of the body or mind which is caused by exhaustion of strength and characterized by a languid feeling; feebleness; lassitude; laxity. 2. Any enfeebling disease. [Obs.] Sick men with divers languors. Wyclif (Luke iv. 40). 3. Listless indolence; dreaminess. Pope. " German dreams, Italian languors." The Century. Syn. -- Feebleness; weakness; faintness; weariness; dullness; heaviness; lassitude; listlessness. "constraint": The act of constraining, or the state of being constrained; that which compels to, or restrains from, action; compulsion; restraint; necessity. Long imprisonment and hard constraint. Spenser. Not by constraint, but bDryden. Syn. -- Compulsion; violence; necessity; urgency. -- Constraint, Compulsion. Constraint implies strong binding force; as, the constraint of necessity; the constraint of fear. Compulsion implies the exertion of some urgent impelling force; as, driven by compulsion. The former prevents us from acting agreeably to our wishes; the latter forces us to act contrary to our will. Compulsion is always produced by some active agent; a constraint may be laid upon us by the forms of civil society, or by other outward circumstances. Crabb.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22040 He looked back to my eyes, moving his gaze slowly, almost languorously.
712 capstan prev next
Definition
A vertical cleated drum or cylinder, revolving on an upright spindle, and surmounted by a drumhead with sockets for bars or levers. It is much used, especially on shipboard, for moving or raising heavy weights or exerting great power by traction upon a rope or cable, passing around the drum. It is operated either by steam power or by a number of men walking around the capstan, each pushing on the end of a lever fixed in its socket. [Sometimes spelt Capstern, but improperly.] Capstan bar, one of the long bars or levers by which the capstan is worked; a handspike.. -- To pawl the capstan, to drop the pawls so that they will catch in the notches of the pawl ring, and prevent the capstan from turning back. -- To rig the capstan, to prepare the for use, by putting the bars in the sockets. -- To surge the capstan, to slack the tension of the rope or cable wound around it. "pawl": A pivoted tongue, or sliding bolt, on one part of a machine, adapted to fall into notches, or interdental spaces, on another part, as a ratchet wheel, in such a manner as to permit motion in one direction and prevent it in the reverse, as in a windlass; a catch, click, or detent. See Illust. of Ratchet Wheel. [Written also paul, or pall.] Pawl bitt (Naut.), a heavy timber, set abaft the windlass, to receive the strain of the pawls. -- Pawl rim or ring (Naut.), a stationary metallic ring surrounding the base of a capstan, having notches for the pawls to catch in. To stop with a pawl; to drop the pawls off. To pawl the capstan. See under Capstan. "surmounted": 1. (Arch.) Having its vertical height greater than the half span; -- said of an arch. 2. (Her.) Partly covered by another charge; -- said of an ordinary or other bearing. "shipboard": A ship's side; hence, by extension, a ship; -- found chiefly in adverbial phrases; as, on shipboard; a shipboard. "drumhead": 1. The parchment or skin stretched over one end of a drum. 2. The top of a capstan which is pierced with sockets for levers used in turning it. See Illust. of Capstan. Drumhead court-martial (Mil.), a summary court-martial called to try offenses on the battlefield or the line of march, when, sometimes, a drumhead has to do service as a writing table.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22114 There was a small capstan lathe, which we’d bolted to a homemade table.
713 languorous prev next
Definition
Producing, or tending to produce, languor; characterized by languor. [Obs. or Poetic] Whom late I left in languorous constraint. Spenser. To wile the length from languorous hours, and draw The sting from pain. Tennyson. "languor": 1. A state of the body or mind which is caused by exhaustion of strength and characterized by a languid feeling; feebleness; lassitude; laxity. 2. Any enfeebling disease. [Obs.] Sick men with divers languors. Wyclif (Luke iv. 40). 3. Listless indolence; dreaminess. Pope. " German dreams, Italian languors." The Century. Syn. -- Feebleness; weakness; faintness; weariness; dullness; heaviness; lassitude; listlessness. "constraint": The act of constraining, or the state of being constrained; that which compels to, or restrains from, action; compulsion; restraint; necessity. Long imprisonment and hard constraint. Spenser. Not by constraint, but bDryden. Syn. -- Compulsion; violence; necessity; urgency. -- Constraint, Compulsion. Constraint implies strong binding force; as, the constraint of necessity; the constraint of fear. Compulsion implies the exertion of some urgent impelling force; as, driven by compulsion. The former prevents us from acting agreeably to our wishes; the latter forces us to act contrary to our will. Compulsion is always produced by some active agent; a constraint may be laid upon us by the forms of civil society, or by other outward circumstances. Crabb.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25708 There were changes in her, and I couldn’t help noticing them—a kind of honesty, maybe, in the way her body moved, and a new, almost languorous release that softened her eyes.
714 yachtsman prev next
Definition
One who owns or sails a yacht; a yachter. "yachter": One engaged in sailing a jacht.

Difficulty: 17.53
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26921 More than just the sum of good features—high cheekbones, a high, wide forehead, expressive topaz-coloured eyes, a strong nose, smiling mouth, and firm chin—it was the kind of face that once would’ve been called dashing: the lone yachtsman, the mountaineer, the jungle adventurer.
715 downdraft prev next

Difficulty: 17.51
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4898 When one squalling downdraft of wind swept black and brown smoke into our clearing, we lost sight of Qasim Ali Hussein completely.
716 mummifying prev next
Definition  (mummify)
To embalm and dry as a mummy; to make into, or like, a mummy. Hall (1646). "embalm": 1. To anoint all over with balm; especially, to preserve from decay by means of balm or other aromatic oils, or spices; to fill or impregnate (a dead body), with aromatics and drugs that it may resist putrefaction. Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm embalmed Israel. Gem. l. 2. 2. To fill or imbue with sweet odor; to perfume. With fresh dews embalmed the earth. Milton. 3. To preserve from decay or oblivion as if with balm; to perpetuate in remembrance. Those tears eternal that embalm the dead. Pope.

Difficulty: 17.51
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12292 Trussed up in the mummifying ropes, dragged up the hard metal stairs one bruising bump at a time, I forced my thoughts to settle on that mantra, and I repeated it to the thumping beat of my heart: Get a message to Khaderbhai … Get a message to Khaderbhai…
717 trainload prev next

Difficulty: 17.51
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15567 They sent a trainload of cops after him, and they surrounded his gang, at a hotel in the bush.’
718 mannerism prev next
Definition
Adherence to a peculiar style or manner; a characteristic mode of action, bearing, or treatment, carried to excess, especially in literature or art. Mannerism is pardonable,and is sometimes even agreeable, when the manner, though vicious, is natural . . . . But a mannerism which does not sit easy on the mannerist, which has been adopted on principle, and which can be sustained only by constant effort, is always offensive. Macaulay. "pardonable": Admitting of pardon; not requiring the excution of penalty; venial; excusable; -- applied to the offense or to the offender; as, a pardonable fault, or culprit. "mannerist": One addicted to mannerism; a person who, in action, bearing, or treatment, carries characteristic peculiarities to excess. See citation under Mannerism. "adherence": 1. The quality or state of adhering. 2. The state of being fixed in attachment; fidelity; steady attachment; adhesion; as, adherence to a party or to opinions. Syn. -- Adherence, Adhesion. These words, which were once freely interchanged, are now almost entirely separated. Adherence is no longer used to denote physical union, but is applied, to mental states or habits; as, a strict adherence to one's duty; close adherence to the argument, etc. Adhesion is now confined chiefly to the physical sense, except in the phrase "To give in one's adhesion to a cause or a party."

Difficulty: 17.49
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1436 The expression spoke itself clearly in my mind and, together with Didier’s mannerism, the words put me back in a prison cell.
719 surreptitious prev next
Definition
Done or made by stealth, or without proper authority; made or introduced fraudulently; clandestine; stealthy; as, a surreptitious passage in an old manuscript; a surreptitious removal of goods. -- Sur`rep*ti"tious*ly, adv. "fraudulently": In a fraudulent manner.

Difficulty: 17.49
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3985 Trapped, our jaws grinding away at the admittedly delicious food, we both cast surreptitious glances at the young women cooking at the wok, hoping that each roti, after the third or fourth we’d eaten, would be our last.
720 forelegs prev next

Difficulty: 17.49
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7081 The thick forelegs were all muscle, however, and they closed around me at shoulder height with a massive power, a non-human strength.
721 inured prev next
Definition  (ure)
The urus. Use; practice; exercise. [Obs.] Fuller. Let us be sure of this, to put the best in ure That lies in us. Chapman. To use; to exercise; to inure; to accustom by practice. [Obs.] The French soldiers . . . from their youth have been practiced and ured in feats of arms. Sir T. More. "inure": To apply in use; to train; to discipline; to use or accustom till use gives little or no pain or inconvenience; to harden; to habituate; to practice habitually. "To inure our prompt obedience." Milton. He . . . did inure them to speak little. Sir T. North. Inured and exercised in learning. Robynson (More's Utopia). The poor, inured to drudgery and distress. Cowper. To pass into use; to take or have effect; to be applied; to serve to the use or benefit of; as, a gift of lands inures to the heirs. [Written also enure.] "urus": A very large, powerful, and savage extinct bovine animal (Bos urus or primigenius) anciently abundant in Europe. It appears to have still existed in the time of Julius Cæsar. It had very large horns, and was hardly capable of domestication. Called also, ur, ure, and tur. "accustom": To make familiar by use; to habituate, familiarize, or inure; - - with to. I shall always fear that he who accustoms himself to fraud in little things, wants only opportunity to practice it in greater. Adventurer. Syn. -- To habituate; inure; exercise; train. 1. To be wont. [Obs.] Carew. 2. To cohabit. [Obs.] We with the best men accustom openly; you with the basest commit private adulteries. Milton. Custom. [Obs.] Milton.

Difficulty: 17.49
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9350 But the needle, no matter how fine or sharp, is still a foreign object and, for those of us who aren’t inured to such work through frequent repetition, there’s a psychological penalty that must be paid each time we drive that alien thing into another being’s flesh.
722 bedstead prev next
Definition
A framework for supporting a bed.

Difficulty: 17.49
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10104 She was slumped uncomfortably against the bedstead, and she was breathing noisily through her mouth.
723 brutalised prev next

Difficulty: 17.49
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12375 From what I saw in those three weeks, about one man in every five who was brutalised and dispossessed in that last room took the second option.
724 warily prev next
Definition
In a wary manner.

Difficulty: 17.49
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21130 The tough men parted for him warily, compassion vying with fear in their eyes as they watched him pass.
725 tottered prev next
Definition  (totter)
1. To shake so as to threaten a fall; to vacillate; to be unsteady; to stagger; as,an old man totters with age. "As a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence." Ps. lxii. 3. 2. To shake; to reel; to lean; to waver. Troy nods from high, and totters to her fall. Dryden. "vacillate": 1. To move one way and the other; to reel or stagger; to waver. [A spheroid] is always liable to shift and vacillatefrom one axis to another. Paley. 2. To fluctuate in mind or opinion; to be unsteady or inconstant; to waver. Syn. -- See Fluctuate.

Difficulty: 17.47
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4614 He turned, and tottered slowly back toward the street gate, muttering prayers in a soft drone.
726 jao prev next

Difficulty: 17.47
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Sen 12057 ‘Seedha jao!’ she told the driver.
727 businesswomen prev next

Difficulty: 17.47
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Sen 13599 With its vast population, India sent many thousands of businessmen, businesswomen, and travellers out of the country every day.
728 cheesecloth prev next

Difficulty: 17.47
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23896 He produced the Stechkin, wrapped in a coil of cheesecloth.
729 histrionic prev next
Definition
Of or relating to the stage or a stageplayer; befitting a theatre; theatrical; -- sometimes in a bad sense. -- His`tri*on"ic*al*ly, adv. Tainted with false and histrionic feeling. De Quincey. "stageplayer": An actor on the stage; one whose occupation is to represent characters on the stage; as, Garrick was a celebrated stageplayer.

Difficulty: 17.45
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2175 He appealed to the crowd with enormous, histrionic gestures, flinging his arms wide and then striking his own blood-streaked face.
730 slunk prev next
Definition
imp. & p. p. of Slink.

Difficulty: 17.45
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4260 Some found the going too hard and slunk away, defeated.
731 spindrift prev next
Definition
Same as Spoondrift. The ocean waves are broken up by wind, ultimately producing the storm wrack and spindrift of the tempest-tossed sea. J. E. Marr. "spoondrift": Spray blown from the tops waves during a gale at sea; also, snow driven in the wind at sea; -- written also spindrift. "wrack": A thin, flying cloud; a rack. To rack; to torment. [R.] 1. Wreck; ruin; destruction. [Obs.] Chaucer. "A world devote to universal wrack." Milton. wrack and ruin 2. Any marine vegetation cast up on the shore, especially plants of the genera Fucus, Laminaria, and Zostera, which are most abundant on northern shores. 3. (Bot.) Coarse seaweed of any kind. Wrack grass, or Grass wrack (Bot.), eelgrass. To wreck. [Obs.] Dryden.

Difficulty: 17.45
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5415 The waves, reaching up in splash and spindrift, pulled at me.
732 portmanteau prev next
Definition
A bag or case, usually of leather, for carrying wearing apparel, etc., on journeys. Thackeray.

Difficulty: 17.45
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8046 Madame Zhou had become a kind of portmanteau figure: people packed the details of their own obsessions into her life.
733 lawbreaker prev next
Definition
One who disobeys the law; a criminal. -- Law"break`ing, n. & a.

Difficulty: 17.43
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13510 His instruction in the lawbreaker’s arts—he sent me first to the Palestinian, Khaled Ansari, to learn the black-market money trade—gave me the means to become what I’d never tried or wanted to be: a professional criminal.
734 basso prev next
Definition
(a) The bass or lowest part; as, to sing basso. (b) One who sings the lowest part. (c) The double bass, or contrabasso. Basso continuo (. Etym: [It., bass continued.] (Mus.) A bass part written out continuously, while the other parts of the harmony are indicated by figures attached to the bass; continued bass. "continuo": Basso continuo, or continued bass. "etym": See Etymon. H. F. Talbot. "contrabasso": The largest kind of bass viol. See Violone.

Difficulty: 17.43
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18266 ‘No,’ he rumbled in the basso voice that commanded unquestioning respect in his ghetto.
735 dogleg prev next

Difficulty: 17.43
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26428 It was completely dark, and it ended in a little dogleg where the space curved around the blind corner of another building.
736 polyglot prev next
Definition
1. Containing, or made up, of, several languages; as, a polyglot lexicon, Bible. 2. Versed in, or speaking, many languages. 1. One who speaks several languages. [R.] "A polyglot, or good linguist." Howell. 2. A book containing several versions of the same text, or containing the same subject matter in several languages; esp., the Scriptures in several languages. Enriched by the publication of polyglots. Abp. Newcome. "newcome": Recently come.

Difficulty: 17.41
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6148 But after a while I realised that the demarcations, like so many other long and short lines of division in the complex, culturally polyglot city, were not as rigid as they’d seemed.
737 subcontracted prev next
Definition
1. Contracted after a former contract. 2. Betrothed for the second time. [Obs.] Shak.

Difficulty: 17.41
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17038 She’d subcontracted the task to a casting agent, but he was experiencing difficulty in finding foreigners to fill the small, non-speaking, decorative roles.
738 clamshell prev next

Difficulty: 17.41
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20077 The sneer rippled his lip like the opening ridges of a clamshell.
739 mullahs prev next

Difficulty: 17.41
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Sen 23008 He’d been a favourite of Khaderbhai’s for his jokes and irreverent satires of pompous mullahs and local political figures.
740 fishhooks prev next
Definition  (fishhook)
1. A hook for catching fish. 2. (Naut.) A hook with a pendant, to the end of which the fish-tackle is hooked. Dana.

Difficulty: 17.41
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23718 Then the pain caused by the hot soup in our empty stomachs was as sharp as a belly full of fishhooks; yet that too passed, and every man forced himself to drink three helpings, and to chew the rubbery, rotting chunks of meat.
741 doorjamb prev next

Difficulty: 17.41
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24188 I stepped up one, two steps, and reached out with my right hand to touch the doorjamb and then touch my chest, over the heart, in a salaam to fate and a homage to the dead friends and enemies who entered with me.
742 sputtered prev next
Definition  (sputter)
1. To spit, or to emit saliva from the mouth in small, scattered portions, as in rapid speaking. 2. To utter words hastily and indistinctly; to speak so rapidly as to emit saliva. They could neither of them speak their rage, and so fell a sputtering at one another, like two roasting apples. Congreve. 3. To throw out anything, as little jets of steam, with a noise like that made by one sputtering. Like the green wood . . . sputtering in the flame. Dryden. To spit out hastily by quick, successive efforts, with a spluttering sound; to utter hastily and confusedly, without control over the organs of speech. In the midst of caresses, and without the last pretend incitement, to sputter out the basest accusations. Swift. Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles; also, confused and hasty speech. "confusedly": In a confused manner. "incitement": 1. The act of inciting. 2. That which incites the mind, or moves to action; motive; incentive; impulse. Burke. From the long records of a distant age, Derive incitements to renew thy rage. Pope. Syn. -- Motive; incentive; spur; stimulus; impulse; encouragement.

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3298 When at last he rose to leave, and I resumed my seat, he muttered such a vile curse that the other passengers sputtered into guffaws of laughter, and a couple of them commiserated with me by patting my shoulder and back.
743 chastisement prev next
Definition
The act of chastising; pain inflicted for punishment and correction; discipline; punishment. Shall I so much dishonor my fair stars, On equal terms to give him chastesement! Shak. I have borne chastisement; I will not offend any more. Job xxxiv. 31.

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6853 They soothed him with hugs and the first kind words he’d heard since the beginning of his chastisement.
744 vegetarianism prev next
Definition
The theory or practice of living upon vegetables and fruits.

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15324 It was an efficient and environmentally benign method of waste disposal, but the sight of those pigs, feasting, was an eloquent argument in favor of vegetarianism.
745 enlivening prev next
Definition  (enliven)
1. To give life, action, or motion to; to make vigorous or active; to excite; to quicken; as, fresh fuel enlivens a fire. Lo! of themselves th' enlivened chessmen move. Cowley. 2. To give spirit or vivacity to; to make sprightly, gay, or cheerful; to animate; as, mirth and good humor enliven a company; enlivening strains of music. Syn. -- To animate; rouse; inspire; cheer; encourage; comfort; exhilarate; inspirit; invigorate. "inspirit": To infuse new life or spirit into; to animate; to encourage; to invigorate. The courage of Agamemnon is inspirited by the love of empire and ambition. Pope. Syn. -- To enliven; invigorate; exhilarate; animate; cheer; encourage; inspire. "invigorate": To give vigor to; to strengthen; to animate; to give life and energy to. Christian graces and virtues they can not be, unless fed, invigorated, and animated by universal charity. Atterbury. Syn. -- To refresh; animate; exhilarate; stimulate. "exhilarate": To make merry or jolly; to enliven; to animate; to gladden greatly; to cheer; as, good news exhilarates the mind; wine exhilarates a man. To become joyous. [R.] Bacon. "sprightly": Sprightlike, or spiritlike; lively; brisk; animated; vigorous; airy; gay; as, a sprightly youth; a sprightly air; a sprightly dance. "Sprightly wit and love inspires." Dryden. The sprightly Sylvia trips along the green. Pope. "quicken": 1. To make alive; to vivify; to revive or resuscitate, as from death or an inanimate state; hence, to excite; to, stimulate; to incite. The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead. Shak. Like a fruitful garden without an hedge, that quickens the appetite to enjoy so tempting a prize. South. 2. To make lively, active, or sprightly; to impart additional energy to; to stimulate; to make quick or rapid; to hasten; to accelerate; as, to quicken one's steps or thoughts; to quicken one's departure or speed. 3. (Shipbuilding) To shorten the radius of (a curve); to make (a curve) sharper; as, to quicken the sheer, that is, to make its curve more pronounced. Syn. -- To revive; resuscitate; animate; reinvigorate; vivify; refresh; stimulate; sharpen; incite; hasten; accelerate; expedite; dispatch; speed. 1. To come to life; to become alive; to become vivified or enlivened; hence, to exhibit signs of life; to move, as the fetus in the womb. The heart is the first part that quickens, and the last that dies. Ray. And keener lightnings quicken in her eye. Pope. When the pale and bloodless east began To quicken to the sun. Tennyson. 2. To move with rapidity or activity; to become accelerated; as, his pulse quickened. "vivacity": The quality or state of being vivacious. Specifically: -- (a) Tenacity of life; vital force; natural vigor. [Obs.] The vivacity of some of these pensioners is little less than a miracle, they lived so long. Fuller. (b) Life; animation; spiritedness; liveliness; sprightliness; as, the vivacity of a discourse; a lady of great vivacity; vivacity of countenance. Syn. -- Liveliness; gayety. See Liveliness.

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15861 The heart-squeezing, enlivening exhilaration of it was so powerful that it wasn’t until an hour later, when we entered Abdul Ghani’s passport workshop, that I could give my full attention to the man and the moment that we shared.
746 goatskins prev next
Definition  (goatskin)
The skin of a goat, or leather made from it. -- a. Made of the skin of a goat.

Difficulty: 17.39
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21208 The baggage—the goods we were smuggling into Afghanistan, and our personal supplies—was scattered in a nearby pasture, covered by sheepskins and goatskins to give the appearance, if seen from the air, of a herd of livestock.
747 exhorting prev next
Definition  (exhort)
To incite by words or advice; to animate or urge by arguments, as to a good deed or laudable conduct; to address exhortation to; to urge strongly; hence, to advise, warn, or caution. Examples gross as earth exhort me. Shak. Let me exhort you to take care of yourself. J. D. Forbes. To deliver exhortation; to use words or arguments to incite to good deeds. With many other words did he testify and exhort. Acts ii. 40. Exhortation. [Obs.] Pope. "laudable": 1. Worthy of being lauded; praiseworthy; commendable; as, laudable motives; laudable actions; laudable ambition. 2. (Med.) Healthy; salubrious; normal; having a disposition to promote healing; not noxious; as, laudable juices of the body; laudable pus. Arbuthnot. "exhortation": 1. The act of practice of exhorting; the act of inciting to laudable deeds; incitement to that which is good or commendable. 2. Language intended to incite and encourage; advice; counsel; admonition. I'll end my exhortation after dinner. Shak.

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3907 She harangued those who wanted to appease the dacoits, exhorting them to resist and fight and kill, if necessary, in defence of their lives and their land.
748 assiduously prev next
Definition  (assiduous)
1. Constant in application or attention; devoted; attentive; unremitting. She grows more assiduous in her attendance. Addison. 2. Performed with constant diligence or attention; unremitting; persistent; as, assiduous labor. To weary him with my assiduous cries. Milton. Syn. -- Diligent; attentive; sedulous; unwearied; unintermitted; persevering; laborious; indefatigable. As*sid"u*ous*ly, adv. -- As*sid"u*ous*ness, n. "laborious": 1. Requiring labor, perseverance, or sacrifices; toilsome; tiresome. Dost thou love watchings, abstinence, or toil, Laborious virtues all Learn these from Cato. Addison. 2. Devoted to labor; diligent; industrious; as, a laborious mechanic. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ness, n. "sedulous": Diligent in application or pursuit; constant, steady, and persevering in business, or in endeavors to effect an object; steadily industrious; assiduous; as, the sedulous bee. What signifies the sound of words in prayer, without the affection of the heart, and a sedulous application of the proper means that may naturally lead us to such an end L'Estrange. Syn. -- Assiduous; diligent; industrious; laborious; unremitting; untiring; unwearied; persevering. -- Sed"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Sed"u*lous*ness, n. "persevering": Characterized by perseverance; persistent. -- Per`se*ver"ing*ly, adv. "unremitting": Not remitting; incessant; continued; persevering; as, unremitting exertions. Cowper. -- Un`re*mit"ting*ly, adv. -- Un`re*mit"ting*ness, n. "unwearied": Not wearied; not fatigued or tired; hence, persistent; not tiring or wearying; indefatigable. -- Un*wea"ried*ly, adv. -- Un*wea"ried*ness, n. "indefatigable": Incapable of being fatigued; not readily exhausted; unremitting in labor or effort; untiring; unwearying; not yielding to fatigue; as, indefatigable exertions, perseverance, application. "A constant, indefatigable attendance." South. Upborne with indefatigable wings. Milton. Syn. -- Unwearied; untiring; persevering; persistent.

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5403 I gave myself assiduously to the role of slum doctor.
749 enrolment prev next

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6235 He said that Khaderbhai had taken especially gifted slum children from several slums throughout the city, and paid for their enrolment in private colleges.
750 obsessional prev next

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11147 Patience and obsessional focus are the gems we mine in the tunnels of prison solitude.
751 kalinga prev next

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15343 I ate the delicious sweet kalinga, spitting the seeds onto the sand.
752 disinterments prev next
Definition  (interment)
The act or ceremony of depositing a dead body in the earth; burial; sepulture; inhumation. T. Warton. "sepulture": 1. The act of depositing the dead body of a human being in the grave; burial; interment. Where we may royal sepulture prepare. Dryden. 2. A sepulcher; a grave; a place of burial. Drunkeness that the horrible sepulture of man's reason. Chaucer. "inhumation": 1. The act of inhuming or burying; interment. 2. (Old Chem.) The act of burying vessels in warm earth in order to expose their contents to a steady moderate heat; the state of being thus exposed. 3. (Med.) Arenation.

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15494 After numerous burials and disinterments, the much-exhumed body of St. Francis was finally installed in the Basilica of Bom Jesus, in Goa, in the early seventeenth century.
753 ampoule prev next

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22833 After dressing his wounds, I gave both men a shot of penicillin and an ampoule of morphine.
754 cerise prev next
Definition
Cherry-colored; a light bright red; --- applied to textile fabrics, especially silk.

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26046 The setting sun, that funeral fire in the sky, seared my eyes, and I looked away to follow the last flares of cerise and magenta streaming out and fading in the ocean-mirrored sapphire of the evening.
755 gunnels prev next
Definition  (gunnel)
1. A gunwale. 2. (Zoöl.) A small, eel-shaped, marine fish of the genus Murænoides; esp., M. gunnellus of Europe and America; -- called also gunnel fish, butterfish, rock eel. "butterfish": A name given to several different fishes, in allusion to their slippery coating of mucus, as the Stromateus triacanthus of the Atlantic coast, the Epinephelus punctatus of the southern coast, the rock eel, and the kelpfish of New Zealand. "gunwale": The upper edge of a vessel's or boat's side; the uppermost wale of a ship (not including the bulwarks); or that piece of timber which reaches on either side from the quarter-deck to the forecastle, being the uppermost bend, which finishes the upper works of the hull. [Written also gunnel.]

Difficulty: 17.37
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 28090 Only the prow and a few metres of the long boat’s gunnels protruded from the surrounding waves of sand.
756 scrutinised prev next

Difficulty: 17.35
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3855 When I learned to speak her language well enough, she told me with disarming candour how disappointed she’d been when she’d scrutinised Kishan for the first time.
757 hesitancy prev next
Definition
1. The act of hesitating, or pausing to consider; slowness in deciding; vacillation; also, the manner of one who hesitates. 2. A stammering; a faltering in speech. "faltering": Hesitating; trembling. "With faltering speech." Milton. -- n. Falter; halting; hesitation. -- Fal"ter*ing*ly, adv. "vacillation": 1. The act of vacillating; a moving one way and the other; a wavering. His vacillations, or an alternation of knowledge and doubt. Jer. Taylor. "slowness": The quality or state of being slow.

Difficulty: 17.35
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5594 But there was hesitancy as well—a kind of reluctance—as if, despite everything in their talk and smiles, they didn’t really like or trust him.
758 fatalism prev next
Definition
The doctrine that all things are subject to fate, or that they take place by inevitable necessity.

Difficulty: 17.34
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 815 In fact, in recent months I’d found myself reacting with a quirky fatalism to the new names I was forced to adopt, in one place or another, and to the new names that others gave me.
759 floodwaters prev next

Difficulty: 17.34
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11953 The floodwaters were deep that year—they reached to the second step from the top—and cars were floating, drifting helplessly, and bumping together near the wall surrounding the great arch of the Gateway of India monument.
760 thumbtack prev next

Difficulty: 17.34
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12637 I sat up, scratching at my back to find an insect about the size of a small thumbtack attached to my skin.
761 coiffure prev next
Definition
A headdress, or manner of dressing the hair. Addison.

Difficulty: 17.34
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17613 Her long, curly blonde hair was pulled back from her face, and held in an elegant coiffure that complemented the decorousness of her modest, ivory-coloured pantsuit.
762 castrato prev next
Definition
A male person castrated for the purpose of improving his voice for singing; an artificial, or male, soprano. Swift.

Difficulty: 17.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8393 He’s a eunuch, a castrato, and a lot creepier than he looks,’ she whispered enigmatically.
763 sequitur prev next

Difficulty: 17.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10125 ‘Yeah, I know who you’re talking about,’ I said testily, irritated by the conversational non sequitur.
764 admonition prev next
Definition
Gentle or friendly reproof; counseling against a fault or error; expression of authoritative advice; friendly caution or warning. Syn. -- Admonition, Reprehension, Reproof. Admonition is prospective, and relates to moral delinquencies; its object is to prevent further transgression. Reprehension and reproof are retrospective, the former being milder than the latter. A person of any age or station may be liable to reprehension in case of wrong conduct; but reproof is the act of a superior. It is authoritative fault-finding or censure addressed to children or to inferiors. "reproof": 1. Refutation; confutation; contradiction. [Obs.] 2. An expression of blame or censure; especially, blame expressed to the face; censure for a fault; chiding; reproach. Those best can bear reproof who merit praise. Pope. Syn. -- Admonition; reprehension; chiding; reprimand; rebuke; censure; blame. See Admonition. "reprehension": Reproof; censure; blame; disapproval. This Basilius took as though his mistress had given him a secret reprehension that he had not showed more gratefulness to Dorus. Sir P. Sidney. Syn. -- Censure; reproof; reprimand. See Admonition.

Difficulty: 17.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22279 It seemed such a condescending admonition to me then: he knew nothing about my father or my relationship to him.
765 rappling prev next

Difficulty: 17.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23700 I felt the sobbing in my chest like a river rappling and rolling against worn and rounded rocks, on and on and on.
766 recidivist prev next
Definition
One who is recidivous or is characterized by recidivism; an incorrigible criminal. -- Re*cid`i*vis"tic (#), a. The criminal by passion never becomes a recidivist, it is the social, not the antisocial, instincts that are strong within him, his crime is a solitary event in his life. Havelock Ellis. "havelock": A light cloth covering for the head and neck, used by soldiers as a protection from sunstroke. "recidivism": The state or quality of being recidivous; relapse, specif. (Criminology), a falling back or relapse into prior criminal habits, esp. after conviction and punishment. The old English system of recognizances, in which the guilty party deposits a sum of money, is an excellent guarantee to society against recidivism. Havelock Ellis. "recidivous": Tending or liable to backslide or r

Difficulty: 17.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27108 At least he’s not a recidivist.’
767 corollary prev next
Definition
1. That which is given beyond what is actually due, as a garland of flowers in addition to wages; surplus; something added or superfluous. [Obs.] Now come, my Ariel; bring a corollary, Rather than want a spirit. Shak. 2. Something which follows from the demonstration of a proposition; an additional inference or deduction from a demonstrated proposition; a consequence.

Difficulty: 17.30
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1708 Didier’s corollary to the rule was: always know what the other thinks of you.
768 daubs prev next
Definition  (daub)
1. To smear with soft, adhesive matter, as pitch, slime, mud, etc.; to plaster; to bedaub; to besmear. She took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch. Ex. ii. 3. 2. To paint in a coarse or unskillful manner. If a picture is daubed with many bright and glaring colors, the vulgar admire it is an excellent piece. I. Watts. A lame, imperfect piece, rudely daubed over. Dryden. 3. To cover with a specious or deceitful exterior; to disguise; to conceal. So smooth he daubed his vice with show of virtue. Shak. 4. To flatter excessively or glossy. [R.] I can safely say, however, that, without any daubing at all, I am very sincerely your very affectionate, humble servant. Smollett. 5. To put on without taste; to deck gaudily. [R.] Let him be daubed with lace. Dryden. To smear; to play the flatterer. His conscience . . . will not daub nor flatter. South. 1. A viscous, sticky application; a spot smeared or dabed; a smear. 2. (Paint.) A picture coarsely executed. Did you . . . take a look at the grand picture . . . 'T is a melancholy daub, my lord. Sterne. "daubing": 1. The act of one who daubs; that which is daubed. 2. A rough coat of mortar put upon a wall to give it the appearance of stone; rough-cast. 3. In currying, a mixture of fish oil and tallow worked into leather; -- called also dubbing. Knight. "bedaub": To daub over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and dirty. Bedaub foul designs with a fair varnish. Barrow. "viscous": Adhesive or sticky, and having a ropy or glutinous consistency; viscid; glutinous; clammy; tenacious; as, a viscous juice. -- Vis"cous*ness, n. Note: There is no well-defined distinction in meaning between viscous and viscid. "besmear": To smear with any viscous, glutinous matter; to bedaub; to soil. Besmeared with precious balm. Spenser. "coarsely": In a coarse manner; roughly; rudely; inelegantly; uncivilly; meanly. "gaudily": In a gaudy manner. Guthrie. "unskillful": 1. Not skillful; inexperienced; awkward; bungling; as, an unskillful surgeon or mechanic; an unskillful logician. 2. Lacking discernment; injudicious; ignorant. Though it make the unskillful laugh, can not but make the judicious grieve. Shak. -- Un*skill"ful*ly, adv. -- Un*skill"ful*ness, n. "specious": 1. Presenting a pleasing appearance; pleasing in form or look; showy. Some [serpents] specious and beautiful to the eye. Bp. Richardson. The rest, far greater part, Will deem in outward rites and specious forms Religion satisfied. Milton. 2. Apparently right; superficially fair, just, or correct, but not so in reality; appearing well at first view; plausible; as, specious reasoning; a specious argument. Misled for a moment by the specious names of religion, liberty, and property. Macaulay. In consequence of their greater command of specious expression. J. Morley. Syn. -- Plausible; showy; ostensible; colorable; feasible. See Plausible. -- Spe"xious*ly, adv. -- Spe"cious*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.30
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11755 I knew the small daubs of colour she’d excluded from her summary were at least as important as the broad strokes she’d included.
769 daubing prev next
Definition
1. The act of one who daubs; that which is daubed. 2. A rough coat of mortar put upon a wall to give it the appearance of stone; rough-cast. 3. In currying, a mixture of fish oil and tallow worked into leather; -- called also dubbing. Knight. "tallow": 1. The suet or fat of animals of the sheep and ox kinds, separated from membranous and fibrous matter by melting. Note: The solid consistency of tallow is due to the large amount of stearin it contains. See Fat. 2. The fat of some other animals, or the fat obtained from certain plants, or from other sources, resembling the fat of animals of the sheep and ox kinds. Tallow candle, a candle made of tallow. -- Tallow catch, a keech. See Keech. [Obs.] -- Tallow chandler, one whose occupation is to make, or to sell, tallow candles. -- Tallow chandlery, the trade of a tallow chandler; also, the place where his business is carried on. -- Tallow tree (Bot.), a tree (Stillingia sebifera) growing in China, the seeds of which are covered with a substance which resembles tallow and is applied to the same purposes. 1. To grease or smear with tallow. 2. To cause to have a large quantity of tallow; to fatten; as, tallow sheep.

Difficulty: 17.30
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20647 And in the instant of thinking that thought, in the moment of daubing the unspoken words on a grey wall of my mind—death wish—I rejected it, with a shudder that shivered across the surface of my skin.
770 swathe prev next
Definition
To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers. Their children are never swathed or bound about with any thing when they are first born. Abp. Abbot. A bandage; a band; a swath. Wrapped me in above an hundred yards of swathe. Addison. Milk and a swathe, at first, his whole demand. Young. The solemn glory of the afternoon, with its long swathes of light between the far off rows of limes. G. Eliot. "swath": 1. A line of grass or grain cut and thrown together by the scythe in mowing or cradling. 2. The whole sweep of a scythe, or the whole breadth from which grass or grain is cut by a scythe or a machine, in mowing or cradling; as, to cut a wide swath. 3. A band or fillet; a swathe. Shak. Swath bank, a row of new-mown grass. [Prov. Eng.]

Difficulty: 17.30
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22165 And at night, enclosed within the breathing, snoring swathe of their soldier-scented sleep—smells of wood-smoke, gun oil, cheap sandalwood soap, piss, shit, sweat soaking into wet-serge, unwashed human and horse hair, liniment and saddle-softener, cumin and coriander, peppermint tooth powder, chai, tobacco, and a hundred others—I dreamed with them of homes and hearts we longed to see again.
771 garrulous prev next
Definition
1. Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative; loquacious. The most garrulous people on earth. De Quincey. 2. (Zoöl.) Having a loud, harsh note; noisy; -- said of birds; as, the garrulous roller. Syn. -- Garrulous, Talkative, Loquacious. A garrulous person indulges in long, prosy talk, with frequent repetitions and lengthened details; talkative implies simply a great desire to talk; and loquacious a great flow of words at command. A child is talkative; a lively woman is loquacious; an old man in his dotage is garrulous. -- Gar"ru*lous*ly, adv. -- Gar"ru*lous*ness, n. "loquacious": 1. Given to continual talking; talkative; garrulous. Loquacious, brawling, ever in the wrong. Dryden. 2. Speaking; expressive. [R.] J. Philips. 3. Apt to blab and disclose secrets. Syn. -- Garrulous; talkative. See Garrulous. "dotage": 1. Feebleness or imbecility of understanding or mind, particularly in old age; the childishness of old age; senility; as, a venerable man, now in his dotage. Capable of distinguishing between the infancy and the dotage of Greek literature. Macaulay. 2. Foolish utterance; drivel. The sapless dotages of old Paris and Salamanca. Milton. 3. Excessive fondness; weak and foolish affection. The dotage of the nation on presbytery. Bp. Burnet. "prosy": 1. Of or pertaining to prose; like prose. 2. Dull and tedious in discourse or writing; prosaic.

Difficulty: 17.30
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25490 Even Andrew, amiable and garrulous young Andrew, had fired his Beretta at a cornered enemy—one of the Sapna killers—and emptied all seven rounds of the magazine into the man’s chest until he was, as Sanjay would’ve said, two or three times dead.
772 torpor prev next
Definition
1. Loss of motion, or of the motion; a state of inactivity with partial or total insensibility; numbness. 2. Dullness; sluggishness; inactivity; as, a torpor of the mental faculties. "inactivity": 1. The state or quality of being inactive; inertness; as, the inactivity of matter. 2. Idleness; habitual indisposition to action or exertion; want of energy; sluggishness. The gloomy inactivity of despair. Cook. "insensibility": 1. The state or quality of being insensible; want of sensibility; torpor; unconsciousness; as, the insensibility produced by a fall, or by opiates. 2. Want of tenderness or susceptibility of emotion or passion; dullness; stupidity. Syn. -- Dullness; numbness; unfeelingness; stupidity; torpor; apathy; impassiveness; indifference. "dullness": The state of being dull; slowness; stupidity; heaviness; drowsiness; bluntness; obtuseness; dimness; want of luster; want of vividness, or of brightness. [Written also dulness.] And gentle dullness ever loves a joke. Pope.

Difficulty: 17.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3908 Astonished as much by her sudden animation, after two years of grief’s torpor, as by her martial speech, the villagers were inspirited.
773 joists prev next
Definition  (joist)
A piece of timber laid horizontally, or nearly so, to which the planks of the floor, or the laths or furring strips of a ceiling, are nailed; -- called, according to its position or use, binding joist, bridging joist, ceiling joist, trimming joist, etc. See Illust. of Double-framed floor, under Double, a. To fit or furnish with joists. Johnson. "bridging": The system of bracing used between floor or other timbers to distribute the weight. Bridging joist. Same as Binding joist. "furring": 1. (Carp.) (a) The leveling of a surface, or the preparing of an air space, by means of strips of board or of larger pieces. See Fur, v. t., 3. (b) The strips thus laid on. 2. (Shipbuilding) Double planking of a ship's side. 3. A deposit from water, as on the inside of a boiler; also, the operation of cleaning away this deposit.

Difficulty: 17.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5265 I scrabbled around with my hands in the dust, between the roof joists, and found the cigarette lighter.
774 frugality prev next
Definition
1. The quality of being frugal; prudent economy; that careful management of anything valuable which expends nothing unnecessarily, and applies what is used to a profitable purpose; thrift; --- opposed to extravagance. Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have limits. Burke. 2. A sparing use; sparingness; as, frugality of praise. Syn. -- Economy; parsimony. See Economy. "parsimony": Closeness or sparingness in the expenditure of money; -- generally in a bad sense; excessive frugality; niggardliness. Bacon. Awful parsimony presided generally at the table. Thackeray. Syn. -- Economy; frugality; illiberality; covetousness; closeness; stinginess. See Economy.

Difficulty: 17.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10534 It was the awful and beautiful frugality of snake and scorpion.
775 peptide prev next

Difficulty: 17.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20093 The endorphins are peptide neurotransmitters that have pain-relieving properties.
776 roulade prev next
Definition
A smoothly running passage of short notes (as semiquavers, or sixteenths) uniformly grouped, sung upon one long syllable, as in Handel's oratorios. "uniformly": In a uniform manner; without variation or diversity; by a regular, constant, or common ratio of change; with even tenor; as, a temper uniformly mild. To vary uniformly (Math.), to vary with the ratio of the corresponding increments constant; -- said of two dependent quantities with regard to each other.

Difficulty: 17.27
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1998 I allowed myself to be drawn by the soft pleading of the waves, and the roulade of her voice; by the black sky, and the darker night of her hair; by the sea-tree-stone smell of the sleeping street, and the perfume sublime on her warm skin.
777 certitude prev next
Definition
Freedom from doubt; assurance; certainty. J. H. Newman.

Difficulty: 17.27
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14786 There was such apodictic certitude in Khader’s every pronouncement, such a decisive, incontrovertible assurance in the man, that it informed and composed even his stillnesses and silences.
778 imperishable prev next
Definition
Not perisha ble; not subject to decay; indestructible; enduringpermanently; as, an imperishable monument; imperishable renown. -- Im*per"ish*a*ble*ness, n. -- Im*per"ish*a*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 17.27
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16320 And I danced on that steel serpent as it slithered sinuous beside the scroll and swell of the endless, imperishable sea.
779 profligate prev next
Definition
1. Overthrown; beaten; conquered. [Obs.] The foe is profligate, and run. Hudibras. 2. Broken down in respect of rectitude, principle, virtue, or decency; openly and shamelessly immoral or vicious; dissolute; as, profligate man or wretch. A race more profligate than we. Roscommon. Made prostitute and profligate muse. Dryden. Syn. -- Abandoned; corrupt; dissolute; vitiated; depraved; vicious; wicked. See Abandoned. An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person. "Such a profligate as Antony." Swift. To drive away; to overcome. Note: [A Latinism] [Obs.] Harvey. "rectitude": 1. Straightness. [R.] Johnson. 2. Rightness of principle or practice; exact conformity to truth, or to the rules prescribed for moral conduct, either by divine or human laws; uprightness of mind; uprightness; integrity; honesty; justice. 3. Right judgment. [R.] Sir G. C. Lewis. Syn. -- See Justice. "dissolute": 1. With nerves unstrung; weak. [Obs.] Spenser. 2. Loosed from restraint; esp., loose in morals and conduct; recklessly abandoned to sensual pleasures; profligate; wanton; lewd; debauched. "A wild and dissolute soldier." Motley. Syn. -- Uncurbed; unbridled; disorderly; unrestrained; reckless; wild; wanton; vicious; lax; licentious; lewd; "latinism": A Latin idiom; a mode of speech peculiar to Latin; also, a mode of speech in another language, as English, formed on a Latin model. Note: The term is also sometimes used by Biblical scholars to designate a Latin word in Greek letters, or the Latin sense of a Greek word in the Greek Testament.

Difficulty: 17.27
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18093 The remnants of his family cast him out, no less for his penury than for the many scandals that had pursued his profligate progress through the Middle East and Asia.
780 convulsive prev next
Definition
Producing, or attended with, convulsions or spasms; characterized by convulsions; convulsionary. An irregular, convulsive movement may be necessary to throw off an irregular, convulsive disease. Burke. "convulsionary": Pertaining to convulsion; convulsive. "Convulsionary struggles." Sir W. Scott. A convulsionist.

Difficulty: 17.27
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20065 Diarrhoea shook me with convulsive spasms.
781 surmount prev next
Definition
1. To rise above; to be higher than; to overtop. The mountains of Olympus, Athos, and Atlas, overreach and surmount all winds and clouds. Sir W. Raleigh. 2. To conquer; to overcome; as, to surmount difficulties or obstacles. Macaulay. 3. To surpass; to exceed. Spenser. What surmounts the reach Of human sense I shall delineate. Milton. Syn. -- To conquer; overcome; vanquish; subdue; surpass; exceed. "overreach": 1. To reach above or beyond in any direction. 2. To deceive, or get the better of, by artifice or cunning; to outwit; to cheat. Shak. 1. To reach too far; as: (a) To strike the toe of the hind foot against the heel or shoe of the forefoot; -- said of horses. (b) (Naut.) To sail on one tack farther than is necessary. Shak. 2. To cheat by cunning or deception. The act of striking the heel of the fore foot with the toe of the hind foot; -- said of horses. "overtop": 1. To rise above the top of; to exceed in height; to tower above. "To old Pelion." Shak. 2. To go beyond; to transcend; to transgress. If kings presume to overtop the law by which they reign, . . . they are by law to be reduced into order. Milton. 3. To make of less importance, or throw into the background, by superior excellence; to dwarf; to obscure. Becon. "delineate": Delineated; portrayed. [R.] 1. To indicate by lines drawn in the form or figure of; to represent by sketch, design, or diagram; to sketch out; to portray; to picture; in drawing and engraving, to represent in lines, as with the pen, pencil, or graver; hence, to represent with accuracy and minuteness. See Delineation. Adventurous to delineate nature's form. Akenside. 2. To portray to the mind or understanding by words; to set forth; to describe. Customs or habits delineated with great accuracy. Walpole.

Difficulty: 17.27
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25488 And there was another difference between the men in that group and me—a difference so profound that friendship, on its own, couldn’t surmount it.
782 sterilise prev next

Difficulty: 17.25
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9319 When the water boiled, I put a little into a dish, and threw two needles into the pot to sterilise them with further boiling.
783 korma prev next

Difficulty: 17.25
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11992 We ate chicken byriani, malai kofta, vegetable korma, rice, curried vegetables, deep fried pieces of pumpkin, potato, onion, and cauliflower, hot buttered naan bread, dhal, papadams, and green mango chutney.
784 capitalise prev next

Difficulty: 17.25
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27456 The Sapna-Iran connection, all survivors from Abdul Ghani’s treacherous attempted coup, had learned of the hostility between the councils, and had appeared at just the right moment to capitalise on Chuha’s greed and ambition.
785 accusatory prev next
Definition
Pertaining to, or containing, an accusation; as, an accusatory libel. Grote. "grote": A groat. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Difficulty: 17.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 160 Two pairs of clear, pale-blue eyes stared at me with the vague, almost accusatory censure of those who’ve convinced themselves that they’ve found the one true path.
786 truncated prev next
Definition
1. Cut off; cut short; maimed. 2. (Min.) Replaced, or cut off, by a plane, especially when equally inclined to the adjoining faces; as, a truncated edge. 3. (Zoöl.) Lacking the apex; -- said of certain spiral shells in which the apex naturally drops off. Truncated cone or pyramid (Geom.), a cone or pyramid whose vertex is cut off by a plane, the plane being usually parallel to the base. "vertex": A turning point; the principal or highest point; top; summit; crown; apex. Specifically: --(a) (Anat.) The top, or crown, of the head. (b) (Anat.) The zenith, or the point of the heavens directly overhead. (c) (Math.) The point in any figure opposite to, and farthest from, the base; the terminating point of some particular line or lines in a figure or a curve; the top, or the point opposite the base. Note: The principal vertex of a conic section is, in the parabola, the vertex of the axis of the curve: in the ellipse, either extremity of either axis, but usually the left-hand vertex of the transverse axis; in the hyperbola, either vertex, but usually the right-hand vertex of the transverse axis. Vertex of a curve (Math.), the point in which the axis of the curve intersects it. -- Vertex of an angle (Math.), the point in which the sides of the angle meet. -- Vertex of a solid, or of a surface of revolution (Math.), the point in which the axis pierces the surface.

Difficulty: 17.22
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20333 When he tried to speak English, the words came out in awkward, truncated couplets, top-heavy with meanings and tottering on small feet of blunt sense.
787 basmati prev next

Difficulty: 17.22
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23911 There were so many strong smells, one upon another, that my senses rejected them and concentrated on one particularly pungent aroma: the unmistakable smell of perfumed Indian basmati rice, cooking somewhere close to the tent.
788 tradeoff prev next

Difficulty: 17.22
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25044 They saw it as a reasonable tradeoff: excitement and power and wealth enough to provide for their families, balanced against short lives that rushed into the dead-end of a knife or a gun.
789 customarily prev next
Definition
In a customary manner; habitually.

Difficulty: 17.22
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26189 Fifty rupees was the same amount, I knew, that Sanjay customarily tipped waiters and better-than-average cab drivers.
790 cadenza prev next
Definition
A parenthetic flourish or flight of ornament in the course of a piece, commonly just before the final cadence. "parenthetic": 1. Of the nature of a parenthesis; pertaining to, or expressed in, or as in, a parenthesis; as, a parenthetical clause; a parenthetic remark. A parenthetical observation of Moses himself. Hales. 2. Using or containing parentheses.

Difficulty: 17.21
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 263 Other bags began tumbling to the pavement in an ominous cadenza of creaks and crashes.
791 skeined prev next
Definition  (skein)
1. A quantity of yarn, thread, or the like, put up together, after it is taken from the reel, -- usually tied in a sort of knot. Note: A skein of cotton yarn is formed by eighty turns of the thread round a fifty-four inch reel. 2. (Wagon Making) A metallic strengthening band or thimble on the wooden arm of an axle. Knight. A flight of wild fowl (wild geese or the like). [Prov. Eng.]

Difficulty: 17.21
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2286 And skeined over all the buildings like metal cobwebs were complicated traceries of electrical conduits and wires, as if even that symbol and source of the modern age and its power was no more than a fragile, temporary net that might be swept away by a rough gesture.
792 cadenzas prev next
Definition  (cadenza)
A parenthetic flourish or flight of ornament in the course of a piece, commonly just before the final cadence. "parenthetic": 1. Of the nature of a parenthesis; pertaining to, or expressed in, or as in, a parenthesis; as, a parenthetical clause; a parenthetic remark. A parenthetical observation of Moses himself. Hales. 2. Using or containing parentheses.

Difficulty: 17.21
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5925 It was a lush, tripartite harmony built upon a simple melody and improvised cadenzas.
793 reverberations prev next
Definition  (reverberation)
The act of reverberating; especially, the act of reflecting light or heat, or reëchoing sound; as, the reverberation of rays from a mirror; the reverberation of rays from a mirror; the reverberation of voices; the reverberation of heat or flame in a furnace.

Difficulty: 17.21
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6954 Across that half-metre of air, I felt the reverberations of the feral noise throb against my chest.
794 masterwork prev next

Difficulty: 17.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2658 The man was a genius of the corruptions, my finest student, my masterwork.
795 stupefying prev next
Definition  (stupefy)
1. To make stupid; to make dull; to blunt the faculty of perception or understanding in; to deprive of sensibility; to make torpid. The fumes of drink discompose and stupefy the brain. South. 2. To deprive of material mobility. [Obs.] It is not malleable; but yet is not fluent, but stupefied. Bacon. "torpid": 1. Having lost motion, or the power of exertion and feeling; numb; benumbed; as, a torpid limb. Without heat all things would be torpid. Ray. 2. Dull; stupid; sluggish; inactive. Sir M. Hale. "stupefied": Having been made stupid. "discompose": 1. To disarrange; to interfere with; to disturb; to disorder; to unsettle; to break up. Or discomposed the headdress of a prude. Pope. 2. To throw into disorder; to ruffle; to destroy the composure or equanimity; to agitate. Opposition . . . discomposeth the mind's serenity. Glanvill. 3. To put out of place or service; to discharge; to displace. [Obs.] Bacon. Syn. -- To disorder; derange; unsettle; disturb; disconcert; agitate; ruffle; fret; vex.

Difficulty: 17.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3589 The expression on those faces was always the same—frank, stupefying, goggle-eyed amazement.
796 peremptory prev next
Definition
1. Precluding debate or expostulation; not admitting of question or appeal; positive; absolute; decisive; conclusive; final. Think of heaven with hearty purposes and peremptory designs to get thither. Jer. Taylor. 2. Positive in opinion or judgment; decided; dictatorial; dogmatical. Be not too positive and peremptory. Bacon. Briefly, then, for we are peremptory. Shak. 3. Firmly determined; unawed. [Poetic] Shak. Peremptory challenge (Law) See under Challenge. -- Peremptory mandamus, a final and absolute mandamus. -- Peremptory plea, a plea by a defendant tending to impeach the plaintiff's right of action; a plea in bar. Syn. -- Decisive; positive; absolute; authoritative; express; arbitrary; dogmatical. "mandamus": A writ issued by a superior court and directed to some inferior tribunal, or to some corporation or person exercising authority, commanding the performance of some specified duty. "dictatorial": 1. Pertaining or suited to a dictator; absolute. Military powers quite dictatorial. W. Irving. 2. Characteristic of a dictator; imperious; dogmatical; overbearing; as, a dictatorial tone or manner. -- Dic`ta*to"ri*al*ly, adv. -- Dic`ta*to"ri*al*ness, n. "dogmatical": 1. Pertaining to a dogma, or to an established and authorized doctrine or tenet. 2. Asserting a thing positively and authoritatively; positive; magisterial; hence, arrogantly authoritative; overbearing. Critics write in a positive, dogmatic way. Spectator. [They] are as assertive and dogmatical as if they were omniscient. Glanvill. Dogmatic theology. Same as Dogmatics. Syn. -- Magisterial; arrogant. See Magisterial. "expostulation": The act of expostulating or reasoning with a person in opposition to some impropriety of conduct; remonstrance; earnest and kindly protest; dissuasion. We must use expostulation kindly. Shak. "impeach": 1. To hinder; to impede; to prevent. [Obs.] These ungracious practices of his sons did impeach his journey to the Holy Land. Sir J. Davies. A defluxion on my throat impeached my utterance. Howell. 2. To charge with a crime or misdemeanor; to accuse; especially to charge (a public officer), before a competent tribunal, with misbehavior in office; to cite before a tribunal for judgement of official misconduct; to arraign; as, to impeach a judge. See Impeachment. 3. Hence, to charge with impropriety; to dishonor; to bring discredit on; to call in question; as, to impeach one's motives or conduct. And doth impeach the freedom of the state. Shak. 4. (Law) To challenge or discredit the credibility of, as of a witness, or the validity of, as of commercial paper. Note: When used in law with reference to a witness, the term signifies, to discredit, to show or prove unreliable or unworthy of belief; when used in reference to the credit of witness, the term denotes, to impair, to lessen, to disparage, to destroy. The credit of a witness may be impeached by showing that he has made statements out of court contradictory to what he swears at the trial, or by showing that his reputation for veracity is bad, etc. Syn. -- To accuse; arraign; censure; criminate; indict; impair; disparage; discredit. See Accuse. Hindrance; impeachment. [Obs.]

Difficulty: 17.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4265 He began to sing in a roaring, off-key voice, and because every man of us cheered our passionate and peremptory approval, we all knew that we were drunk.
797 ringlets prev next
Definition  (ringlet)
1. A small ring; a small circle; specifically, a fairy ring. You demi-puppets, that By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make, Whereof the ewe not bites. Shak. 2. A curl; especially, a curl of hair. [Her golden tresses] in wanton ringlets waved. Milton. "whereof": 1. Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively. I do not find the certain numbers whereof their armies did consist. Sir J. Davies. Let it work like Borgias' wine, Whereof his sire, the pope, was poisoned. Marlowe. Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one. Shak. 2. Of what; -- used interrogatively. Whereof was the house built Johnson.

Difficulty: 17.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8710 The hair was dark and elaborately coifed, falling in ringlets that framed her round and somewhat plump face.
798 vexation prev next
Definition
1. The act of vexing, or the state of being vexed; agitation; disquiet; trouble; irritation. Passions too violent . . . afford us nothing but vexation and pain. Sir W. Temple. Those who saw him after a defeat looked in vain for any trace of vexation. Macaulay. 2. The cause of trouble or disquiet; affliction. Your children were vexation to your youth. Shak. 3. A harassing by process of law; a vexing or troubling, as by a malicious suit. Bacon. Syn. -- Chagrin; agitation; mortification; uneasiness; trouble; grief; sorrow; distress. See Chagrin. "uneasiness": 1. The quality or state of being uneasy; restlessness; disquietude; anxiety. 2. The quality of making uneasy; discomfort; as, the uneasiness of the road. [Obs.] Bp. Burnet. "chagrin": Vexation; mortification. I must own that I felt rather vexation and chagrin than hope and satisfaction. Richard Porson. Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin. Pope. Syn. -- Vexation; mortification; peevishness; fretfulness; disgust; disquiet. Chagrin, Vexation, Mortification. These words agree in the general sense of pain produced by untoward circumstances. Vexation is a feeling of disquietude or irritating uneasiness from numerous causes, such as losses, disappointments, etc. Mortification is a stronger word, and denotes that keen sense of pain which results fron wounded pride or humiliating occurrences. Chagrin is literally the cutting pain produced by the friction of Shagreen leather; in its figurative sense, it varies in meaning, denoting in its lower degrees simply a state of vexation, and its higher degrees the keenest sense of mortification. "Vexation arises chiefly fron our wishes and views being crossed: mortification, from our self-importance being hurt; chagrin, from a mixture of the two." Crabb. To excite ill-humor in; to vex; to mortify; as, he was not a little chagrined. To be vexed or annoyed. Fielding. Chagrined. Dryden. "mortification": 1. The act of mortifying, or the condition of being mortified; especially: (a) (Med.) The death of one part of an animal body, while the rest continues to live; loss of vitality in some part of a living animal; gangrene. Dunglison. (b) (Alchem. & Old Chem.) Destruction of active qualities; neutralization. [Obs.] Bacon. (c) Subjection of the passions and appetites, by penance, absistence, or painful severities inflicted on the body. The mortification of our lusts has something in it that is troublesome, yet nothing that is unreasonable. Tillotson. (d) Hence: Deprivation or depression of self-approval; abatement or pride; humiliation; chagrin; vexation. We had the mortification to lose sight of Munich, Augsburg, and Ratisbon. Addison. 2. That which mortifies; the cause of humiliation, chagrin, or vexation. It is one of the vexatious mortifications of a studious man to have his thoughts discovered by a tedious visit. L'Estrange. 3. (Scots Law) A gift to some charitable or religious institution; -- nearly synonymous with mortmain. Syn. -- Chagrin; vexation; shame. See Chagrin. "disquiet": Deprived of quiet; impatient; restless; uneasy. [R.] Shak. Want of quiet; want of tranquility in body or mind; uneasiness; restlessness; disturbance; anxiety. Swift. To render unquiet; to deprive of peace, rest, or tranquility; to make uneasy or restless; to disturb. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me Ps. xlii. 11. As quiet as these disquieted times will permit. Sir W. Scott. Syn. -- To harass; disturb; vex; fret; excite; agitate.

Difficulty: 17.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21855 The gleam in his eyes goaded me for another heartbeat of vexation and I almost shouted at him, but then I saw the warmth in his expression, and the concern.
799 hoteliers prev next

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 244 They were touts—street operatives for the various hoteliers, drug dealers, and other businessmen of the city—and they shouted at us in broken English with offers of cheap hotel rooms and bargains to be had.
800 galvanised prev next

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3141 The announcement, whatever it was, had galvanised the crowds of people, and they rushed at two stationary trains, hurling themselves and their bundles into the doors and windows.
801 galvanising prev next

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3944 They loved and admired her for the galvanising role she’d played with her funeral speech—the first and last time she’d ever assumed a public position in the village.
802 cornices prev next
Definition  (cornice)
Any horizontal, molded or otherwise decorated projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed; as, the cornice of an order, pedestal, door, window, or house. Gwilt. Cornice ring, the ring on a cannon next behind the muzzle ring.

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4192 Its high, wide rooms were graced with open balconies facing the busy street, and they featured fine detail in their cornices and ceiling rosettes.
803 inebriation prev next
Definition
The condition of being inebriated; intoxication; figuratively, deprivation of sense and judgment by anything that exhilarates, as success. Sir T. Browne. Preserve him from the inebriation of prosperity. Macaulay. Syn. -- See Drunkenness.

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4269 The two burly waiters recognised the new stage of inebriation, and abandoned their drinks trays and glasses for a while.
804 enjoined prev next
Definition  (enjoin)
1. To lay upon, as an order or command; to give an injunction to; to direct with authority; to order; to charge. High matter thou enjoin'st me. Milton. I am enjoined by oath to observe three things. Shak. 2. (Law) To prohibit or restrain by a judicial order or decree; to put an injunction on. This is a suit to enjoin the defendants from disturbing the plaintiffs. Kent. Note: Enjoin has the force of pressing admonition with authority; as, a parent enjoins on his children the duty of obedience. But it has also the sense of command; as, the duties enjoined by God in the moral law. "This word is more authoritative than direct, and less imperious than command." Johnson. To join or unite. [Obs.] Hooker. "imperious": 1. Commanding; ascendant; imperial; lordly; majestic. [Obs.] "A vast and imperious mind." Tilloison. Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness, Imperious. Shak. 2. Haughly; arrogant; overbearing; as, an imperious tyrant; an imperious manner. This imperious man will work us all From princes into pages. Shak. His bold, contemptuous, and imperious spirit soon made him conspicuous. Macaulay. 3. Imperative; urgent; compelling. Imperious need, which can not be withstood. Dryden. Syn. -- Dictatorial; haughty; domineering; overbearing; lordly; tyrannical; despotic; arrogant; imperative; authoritative; commanding; pressing. -- Imperious, Lordly, Domineering. One who is imperious exercises his authority in a manner highly offensive for its spirit and tone; one who is lordly assumes a lofty air in order to display his importance; one who is domineering gives orders in a way to make other feel their inferiority. "admonition": Gentle or friendly reproof; counseling against a fault or error; expression of authoritative advice; friendly caution or warning. Syn. -- Admonition, Reprehension, Reproof. Admonition is prospective, and relates to moral delinquencies; its object is to prevent further transgression. Reprehension and reproof are retrospective, the former being milder than the latter. A person of any age or station may be liable to reprehension in case of wrong conduct; but reproof is the act of a superior. It is authoritative fault-finding or censure addressed to children or to inferiors.

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11281 But I couldn’t let it go, that hope of loving her, and I couldn’t ignore the instinct that enjoined me to wait, and wait.
805 coloratura prev next

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11621 Her father was a painter, and her mother was a soprano coloratura.
806 triviality prev next
Definition
1. The quality or state of being trivial; trivialness. 2. That which is trivial; a trifle. The philosophy of our times does not expend itself in furious discussions on mere scholastic trivialities. Lyon Playfair. "trivialness": Quality or state of being trivial. "expend": To lay out, apply, or employ in any way; to consume by use; to use up or distribute, either in payment or in donations; to spend; as, they expend money for food or in charity; to expend time labor, and thought; to expend hay in feeding cattle, oil in a lamp, water in mechanical operations. If my death might make this island happy . . . I would expend it with all willingness. Shak. 1. To be laid out, used, or consumed. 2. To pay out or disburse money. They go elsewhere to enjoy and to expend. Macaulay . "scholastic": 1. Pertaining to, or suiting, a scholar, a school, or schools; scholarlike; as, scholastic manners or pride; scholastic learning. Sir K. Digby. 2. Of or pertaining to the schoolmen and divines of the Middle Ages (see Schoolman); as, scholastic divinity or theology; scholastic philosophy. Locke. 3. Hence, characterized by excessive subtilty, or needlessly minute subdivisions; pedantic; formal. 1. One who adheres to the method or subtilties of the schools. Milton. 2. (R.C.Ch.) See the Note under Jesuit.

Difficulty: 17.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20419 It puzzled and even tormented him that I almost always met his earnest gravity with facetiousness and triviality.
807 gunrunners prev next

Difficulty: 17.18
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Sen 20468 No less industrious in their pursuit of a deal with the camarilla of generals were the illegals—the black marketeers, gunrunners, freebooters, and mercenaries.
808 weensy prev next
Definition  (ween)
To think; to imagine; to fancy. [Obs. or Poetic] Spenser. Milton. I have lost more than thou wenest. Chaucer. For well I ween, Never before in the bowers of light Had the form of an earthly fay been seen. J. R. Drake. Though never a dream the roses sent Of science or love's compliment, I ween they smelt as sweet. Mrs. Browning.

Difficulty: 17.16
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 810 Not even a teensy or a weensy —’
809 sleepily prev next
Definition
In a sleepy manner; drowsily. "drowsily": In a drowsy manner.

Difficulty: 17.16
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11683 ‘What do you mean?’ she asked sleepily.
810 iniquitous prev next
Definition
Characterized by iniquity; unjust; wicked; as, an iniquitous bargain; an iniquitous proceeding. Demagogues . . . bribed to this iniquitous service. Burke. Syn. -- Wicked; wrong; unjust; unrighteous; nefarious; criminal. -- Iniquitous, Wicked, Nefarious. Wicked is the generic term. Iniquitous is stronger, denoting a violation of the rights of others, usually by fraud or circumvention. Nefarious is still stronger, implying a breach of the most sacred obligations, and points more directly to the intrinsic badness of the deed. "badness": The state of being bad. "circumvention": The act of prevailing over another by arts, address, or fraud; deception; fraud; imposture; delusion. A school in which he learns sly circumvention. Cowper. "unrighteous": 1. Not righteous; evil; wicked; sinful; as, an unrighteous man. 2. Contrary to law and equity; unjust; as, an unrighteous decree or sentence. -- Un*right"eous*ly, adv. -- Un*right"eous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.16
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12593 I was walking into the worst of the city, one of her cruellest and most iniquitous defiles, but some instinct flooded my mind with a loveliness I’d found in her—that path, across the sea, to the white minarets of the saint’s tomb.
811 carbonised prev next

Difficulty: 17.16
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24556 The stairway itself was carbonised, its carpet scorched to stringy clumps of ash.
812 cavil prev next
Definition
To raise captious and frivolous objections; to find fault without good reason. You do not well in obstinacy To cavil in the course of this contract. Shak. To cavil at. [Obs.] Milton. A captious or frivolous objection. All the cavils of prejudice and unbelief. Shak. One who cavils. Cavilers at the style of the Scriptures. Boyle. "unbelief": 1. The withholding of belief; doubt; incredulity; skepticism. 2. Disbelief; especially, disbelief of divine revelation, or in a divine providence or scheme of redemption. Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain. Cowper. Syn. -- See Disbelief. "captious": 1. Art to catch at faults; disposed to find fault or to cavil; eager to object; difficult to please. A captius and suspicious. Stillingfleet. I am sensible I have not disposed my materials to adbide the test of a captious controversy. Bwike. 2. Fitted to harass, perplex, or insnare; insidious; troublesome. Captious restraints on navigation. Bancroft. Syn. -- Caviling, carping, fault-finding; censorious; hypercritical; peevish, fretful; perverse; troublesome. -- Captious, caviling, Carping. A captious person is one who has a fault-finding habit or manner, or is disposed to catch at faults, errors, etc., with quarrelsome intent; a caviling person is disposed to raise objections on frivolous grounds; carping implies that one is given to ill-natured, persistent, or unreasonable fault-finding, or picking up of the words or actions of others. Caviling is the carping of argument, carping the caviling of ill temper. C. J. Smith.

Difficulty: 17.16
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25470 If they needed me, I was there, without cavil or regret.
813 assail prev next
Definition
1. To attack with violence, or in a vehement and hostile manner; to assault; to molest; as, to assail a man with blows; to assail a city with artillery. No rude noise mine ears assailing. Cowper. No storm can now assail The charm he wears within. Keble. 2. To encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the like. The thorny wilds the woodmen fierce assail. Pope. 3. To attack morally, or with a view to produce changes in the feelings, character, conduct, existing usages, institutions; to attack by words, hostile influence, etc.; as, to assail one with appeals, arguments, abuse, ridicule, and the like. The papal authority . . . assailed. Hallam. They assailed him with keen invective; they assailed him with still keener irony. Macaulay. Syn. -- To attack; assault; invade; encounter; fall upon. See Attack. "keener": A professional mourner who wails at a funeral. [Ireland] "vehement": 1. Acting with great force; furious; violent; impetuous; forcible; mighty; as, vehement wind; a vehement torrent; a vehement fire or heat. 2. Very ardent; very eager or urgent; very fervent; passionate; as, a vehement affection or passion. "Vehement instigation." Shak. "Vehement desire." Milton. Syn. -- Furious; violent; raging; impetuous; passionate; ardent; eager; hot; fervid; burning. "invective": Characterized by invection; critical; denunciatory; satirical; abusive; railing. An expression which inveighs or rails against a person; a severe or violent censure or reproach; something uttered or written, intended to cast opprobrium, censure, or reproach on another; a harsh or reproachful accusation; -- followed by against, having reference to the person or thing affected; as an invective against tyranny. The world will be able to judge of his [Junius'] motives for writing such famous invectives. Sir W. Draper. Syn. -- Abuse; censure; reproach; satire; sarcasm; railing; diatribe. See Abuse.

Difficulty: 17.13
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1067 I liked the way she held my eyes until the precise moment when it stopped being comfortable, and then smiled, softening the assail, but never looked away.
814 unleavened prev next
Definition
Not leavened; containing no leaven; as, unleavened bread.

Difficulty: 17.13
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3981 The roti, or unleavened flatbreads, were made fresh for each breakfast, and cooked in a lightly oiled wok on an open fire.
815 fomented prev next
Definition  (foment)
1. To apply a warm lotion to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge wet with warm water or medicated liquid. 2. To cherish with heat; to foster. [Obs.] Which these soft fires . . . foment and warm. Milton. 3. To nurse to life or activity; to cherish and promote by excitements; to encourage; to abet; to instigate; -- used often in a bad sense; as, to foment ill humors. Locke. But quench the choler you foment in vain. Dryden. Exciting and fomenting a religious rebellion. Southey. "abet": 1. To instigate or encourage by aid or countenance; -- used in a bad sense of persons and acts; as, to abet an ill-doer; to abet one in his wicked courses; to abet vice; to abet an insurrection. "The whole tribe abets the villany." South. Would not the fool abet the stealth, Who rashly thus exposed his wealth Gay. 2. To support, uphold, or aid; to maintain; -- in a good sense. [Obs.]. Our duty is urged, and our confidence abetted. Jer. Taylor. 3. (Law) To contribute, as an assistant or instigator, to the commission of an offense. Syn. -- To incite; instigate; set on; egg on; foment; advocate; countenance; encourage; second; uphold; aid; assist; support; sustain; back; connive at. Act of abetting; aid. [Obs.] Chaucer. "choler": 1. The bile; -- formerly supposed to be the seat and cause of irascibility. [Obs.] His [Richard Hooker's] complexion . . . was sanguine, with a mixture of choler; and yet his motion was slow. I. Warton. 2. Irritation of the passions; anger; wrath. He is rash and very sudden in choler. Shak.

Difficulty: 17.13
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20454 When the riots that they’d provoked and fomented finally erupted, the generals ordered their police to open fire.
816 blotch prev next
Definition
1. A blot or spot, as of color or of ink; especially a large or irregular spot. Also Fig.; as, a moral blotch. Spots and blotches . . . some red, others yellow. Harvey. 2. (Med.) A large pustule, or a coarse eruption. Foul scurf and blotches him defile. Thomson. "scurf": 1. Thin dry scales or scabs upon the body; especially, thin scales exfoliated from the cuticle, particularly of the scalp; dandruff. 2. Hence, the foul remains of anything adherent. The scurf is worn away of each committed crime. Dryden. 3. Anything like flakes or scales adhering to a surface. There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top Belched fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf. Milton. 4. (Bot.) Minute membranous scales on the surface of some leaves, as in the goosefoot. Gray. "pustule": A vesicle or an elevation of the cuticle with an inflamed base, containing pus. Malignant pustule. See under Malignant.

Difficulty: 17.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 924 He spat out a squirt of red juice that landed on the road, a metre away, and formed a palm-sized blotch.
817 earthenware prev next
Definition
Vessels and other utensils, ornaments, or the like, made of baked clay. See Crockery, Pottery, Stoneware, and Porcelain. "stoneware": A species of coarse potter's ware, glazed and baked.

Difficulty: 17.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7346 The water was stored in an earthenware matka.
818 shinbone prev next

Difficulty: 17.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10763 A piece of shinbone on one leg protruded below the knee.
819 loll prev next
Definition
1. To act lazily or indolently; to recline; to lean; to throw one's self down; to lie at ease. Void of care, he lolls supine in state. Dryden. 2. To hand extended from the mouth, as the tongue of an ox or a log when heated with labor or exertion. The triple porter of the Stygian seat, With lolling tongue, lay fawning at thy feet. Dryden . 3. To let the tongue hang from the mouth, as an ox, dog, or other animal, when heated by labor; as, the ox stood lolling in the furrow. To let hang from the mouth, as the tongue. Fierce tigers couched around and lolled their fawning tongues. Dryden. "couched": Same as Couch. "stygian": Of or pertaining to the river Styx; hence, hellish; infernal. See Styx. At that so sudden blaze, the Stygian throng Bent their aspect. Milton. "indolently": In an indolent manner. Calm and serene you indolently sit. Addison. "recline": To cause or permit to lean, incline, rest, etc., to place in a recumbent position; as, to recline the head on the hand. The mother Reclined her dying head upon his breast. Dryden. 1. To lean or incline; as, to recline against a wall. 2. To assume, or to be in, a recumbent position; as, to recline on a couch. Having a reclining posture; leaning; reclining. [R.] They sat, recline On the soft downy bank, damasked with flowers. Milton. "supine": 1. Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. 2. Leaning backward, or inclining with exposure to the sun; sloping; inclined. If the vine On rising ground be placed, or hills supine. Dryden. 3. Negligent; heedless; indolent; listless. He became pusillanimous and supine, and openly exposed to any temptation. Woodward. Syn. -- Negligent; heedless; indolent; thoughtless; inattentive; listless; careless; drowsy. -- Su*pine"ly, adv. -- Su*pine"ness, n. A verbal noun; or (according to C.F.Becker), a case of the infinitive mood ending in -um and -u, that in -um being sometimes called the former supine, and that in -u the latter supine. "furrow": 1. A trench in the earth made by, or as by, a plow. 2. Any trench, channel, or groove, as in wood or metal; a wrinkle on the face; as, the furrows of age. Farrow weed a weed which grows on plowed land. Shak. -- To draw a straight furrow, to live correctly; not to deviate from the right line of duty. Lowell. 1. To cut a furrow in; to make furrows in; to plow; as, to furrow the ground or sea. Shak. 2. To mark with channels or with wrinkles. Thou canst help time to furrow me with age. Shak. Fair cheeks were furrowed with hot tears. Byron. "lazily": In a lazy manner. Locke.

Difficulty: 17.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14366 He closed his eyes for a moment, and allowed his head to loll and roll with the movement of the car.
820 permeating prev next
Definition  (permeate)
1. To pass through the pores or interstices of; to penetrate and pass through without causing rupture or displacement; -- applied especially to fluids which pass through substances of loose texture; as, water permeates sand. Woodward. 2. To enter and spread through; to pervade. God was conceived to be diffused throughout the whole world, to permeate and pervade all things. Cudworth. "diffused": Spread abroad; dispersed; loose; flowing; diffuse. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion. Hawthorne. -- Dif*fus"ed*ly, adv. -- Dif*fus"ed*ness, n. "pervade": 1. To pass or flow through, as an aperture, pore, or interstice; to permeate. That labyrinth is easily pervaded. Blackstone. 2. To pass or spread through the whole extent of; to be diffused throughout. A spirit of cabal, intrigue, and proselytism pervaded all their thoughts, words, and actions. Burke.

Difficulty: 17.10
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4749 It was like a physical element permeating the air, and it seemed that I could feel it settle on my skin in a thickening, slimy ooze.
821 soporific prev next
Definition
Causing sleep; tending to cause sleep; soporiferous; as, the soporific virtues of opium. Syn. -- Somniferous; narcotic; opiate; anodyne. A medicine, drug, plant, or other agent that has the quality of inducing sleep; a narcotic. "anodyne": Serving to assuage pain; soothing. The anodyne draught of oblivion. Burke. Note: "The word [in a medical sense] in chiefly applied to the different preparations of opium, belladonna, hyoscyamus, and lettuce." Am. Cyc. Any medicine which allays pain, as an opiate or narcotic; anything that soothes disturbed feelings. "somniferous": Causing or inducing sleep; soporific; dormitive; as, a somniferous potion. Walton. "soporiferous": Causing sleep; somniferous; soporific. "Soporiferous medicine." Swift. --- Sop`o*rif"er*ous*ly, adv. -- Sop`o*rif"er*ous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5537 The experience was familiar and disturbing at the same time—something like returning, as an adult, to the schoolyard of childhood—and despite the soporific slump of the drug, I couldn’t entirely relax.
822 despondency prev next
Definition
The state of desponding; loss of hope and cessation of effort; discouragement; depression or dejection of the mind. The unhappy prince seemed, during some days, to be sunk in despondency. Macaulay. "cessation": A ceasing of discontinuance, as of action, whether termporary or final; a stop; as, a cessation of the war. The temporary cessation of the papal iniquities. Motley. The day was yearly observed for a festival by cessation from labor. Sir J. Hayward. Cessation of arms (Mil.), an armistice, or truce, agreed to by the commanders of armies, to give time for a capitulation, or for other purposes. Syn. -- Stop; rest; stay; pause; discontinuance; intermission; interval; respite; interruption; recess; remission. "dejection": 1. A casting down; depression. [Obs. or Archaic] Hallywell. 2. The act of humbling or abasing one's self. Adoration implies submission and dejection. Bp. Pearson. 3. Lowness of spirits occasioned by grief or misfortune; mental depression; melancholy. What besides, Of sorrow, and dejection, and despair, Our frailty can sustain, thy tidings bring. Milton. 4. A low condition; weakness; inability. [R.] A dejection of appetite. Arbuthnot. 5. (Physiol.) (a) The discharge of excrement. (b) Fæces; excrement. Ray. "discouragement": 1. The act of discouraging, or the state of being discouraged; depression or weakening of confidence; dejection. 2. That which discourages; that which deters, or tends to deter, from an undertaking, or from the prosecution of anything; a determent; as, the revolution was commenced under every possible discouragement. "Discouragements from vice." Swift.

Difficulty: 17.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11390 It was a measure of their despondency and their fear that dread had banished modesty, and they allowed the girl to be examined in a flimsy undergarment that revealed her shoulders and most of one breast.
823 cloudburst prev next

Difficulty: 17.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18493 When I started back toward the city, I heard a sudden eruption of happy laughter from many voices at Prabaker’s party, followed by a cloudburst rattle of applause.
824 imitator prev next
Definition
One who imitates.

Difficulty: 17.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2546 It is the test that reveals whether a hat is a genuine Borsalino, or an inferior imitator.
825 curvaceous prev next

Difficulty: 17.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3842 She was a full head and shoulder taller than her husband, and that difference in height, combined with her ample, curvaceous figure, gave the false impression that she was something of an Amazon, whenever the couple stood together.
826 expiation prev next
Definition
1. The act of making satisfaction or atonement for any crime or fault; the extinguishing of guilt by suffering or penalty. His liberality seemed to have something in it of self-abasement and expiation. W. Irving. 2. The means by which reparation or atonement for crimes or sins is made; an expiatory sacrifice or offering; an atonement. Those shadowy expiations weak, The blood of bulls and goats. Milton. 3. An act by which the treats of prodigies were averted among the ancient heathen. [Obs.] Hayward. "reparation": 1. The act of renewing, restoring, etc., or the state of being renewed or repaired; as, the reparation of a bridge or of a highway; -- in this sense, repair is oftener used. Arbuthnot. 2. The act of making amends or giving satisfaction or compensation for a wrong, injury, etc.; also, the thing done or given; amends; satisfaction; indemnity. make reparation or reparations. I am sensible of the scandal I have given by my loose writings, and make what reparation I am able. Dryden. Syn. -- Restoration; repair; restitution; compensation; amends; satisfaction. "expiatory": Having power, or intended, to make expiation; atoning; as, an expiatory sacrifice. "liberality": 1. The quality or state of being liberal; liberal disposition or practice; freedom from narrowness or prejudice; generosity; candor; charity. That liberality is but cast away Which makes us borrow what we can not pay. Denham. 2. A gift; a gratuity; -- sometimes in the plural; as, a prudent man is not impoverished by his liberalities.

Difficulty: 17.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4554 And there were criminals—thieves, murderers, major mafia figures, and even former warlords—who sought expiation, or propitiation, in the endless agonies of the vow.
827 luxuriant prev next
Definition
Exuberant in growth; rank; excessive; very abundant; as, a luxuriant growth of grass; luxuriant foliage. Prune the luxuriant, the uncouth refine. Pope. Luxuriant flower (Bot.), one in which the floral envelopes are overdeveloped at the expense of the essential organs.

Difficulty: 17.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6539 We only had to lift our heads from the filthy drains to find ourselves in a luxuriant garden of smiles.
828 supercilious prev next
Definition
Lofty with pride; haughty; dictatorial; overbearing; arrogant; as, a supercilious officer; asupercilious air; supercilious behavior. -- Su`per*cil"i*ous*ly, adv. -- Su`per*cil"i*ous*ness, n. "dictatorial": 1. Pertaining or suited to a dictator; absolute. Military powers quite dictatorial. W. Irving. 2. Characteristic of a dictator; imperious; dogmatical; overbearing; as, a dictatorial tone or manner. -- Dic`ta*to"ri*al*ly, adv. -- Dic`ta*to"ri*al*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12734 His supercilious grin faded, and his eyes fluttered their signal of defeat.
829 presentiment prev next
Definition
Previous sentiment, conception, or opinion; previous apprehension; especially, an antecedent impression or conviction of something unpleasant, distressing, or calamitous, about to happen; anticipation of evil; foreboding. "calamitous": 1. Suffering calamity; wretched; miserable. [Obs.] Ten thousands of calamitous persons. South. 2. Producing, or attended with distress and misery; making wretched; wretched; unhappy. "This sad and calamitous condition." South. "A calamitous prison" Milton. Syn. -- Miserable; deplorable; distressful; afflictive; grievous; baleful; disastrous; adverse; unhappy; severe; sad; unfortunate. -- Ca*lam"i*tous*ly, adv. -- Ca*lam"i*tous*ness, n. "antecedent": 1. Going before in time; prior; anterior; preceding; as, an event antecedent to the Deluge; an antecedent cause. 2. Presumptive; as, an antecedent improbability. Syn. -- Prior; previous; foregoing. 1. That which goes before in time; that which precedes. South. The Homeric mythology, as well as the Homeric language, has surely its antecedents. Max Miller. 2. One who precedes or goes in front. [Obs.] My antecedent, or my gentleman usher. Massinger. 3. pl. The earlier events of one's life; previous principles, conduct, course, history. J. H. Newman. If the troops . . . prove worthy of their antecedents, the victory is surely ours. Gen. G. McClellan. 4. (Gram.) The noun to which a relative refers; as, in the sentence "Solomon was the prince who built the temple," prince is the antecedent of who. 5. (Logic) (a) The first or conditional part of a hypothetical proposition; as, If the earth is fixed, the sun must move. (b) The first of the two propositions which constitute an enthymeme or contracted syllogism; as, Every man is mortal; therefore the king must die. 6. (Math.) The first of the two terms of a ratio; the first or third of the four terms of a proportion. In the ratio a:b, a is the antecedent, and b the consequent.

Difficulty: 17.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25042 They’d refused to marry, Salman told me, because of a shared belief or presentiment that they would die violently and they would die young.
830 encroachments prev next
Definition  (encroachment)
1. The act of entering gradually or silently upon the rights or possessions of another; unlawful intrusion. An unconstitutional encroachment of military power on the civil establishment. Bancroft. 2. That which is taken by encroaching on another. 3. (Law) An unlawful diminution of the possessions of another. "diminution": 1. The act of diminishing, or of making or becoming less; state of being diminished; reduction in size, quantity, or degree; -- opposed to augmentation or increase. 2. The act of lessening dignity or consideration, or the state of being deprived of dignity; a lowering in estimation; degradation; abasement. The world's opinion or diminution of me. Eikon Basilike. Nor thinks it diminution to be ranked In military honor next. Philips. 3. (Law) Omission, inaccuracy, or defect in a record. 4. (Mus.) In counterpoint, the imitation of, or reply to, a subject, in notes of half the length or value of those the subject itself. Syn. -- Decrease; decay; abatement; reduction; deduction; decrement.

Difficulty: 17.06
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 536 Two or three attendants, seated on folding stools, manned each of those small encroachments on the footpath.
831 cloyingly prev next
Definition  (cloy)
1. To fill or choke up; to stop up; to clog. [Obs.] The duke's purpose was to have cloyed the harbor by sinking ships, laden with stones. Speed. 2. To glut, or satisfy, as the appetite; to satiate; to fill to loathing; to surfeit. [Who can] cloy the hungry edge of appetite By bare imagination of a feast Shak. He sometimes cloys his readers instead of satisfying. Dryden. 3. To penetrate or pierce; to wound. Which, with his cruel tusk, him deadly cloyed. Spenser. He never shod horse but he cloyed him. Bacon. 4. To spike, as a cannon. [Obs.] Johnson. 5. To stroke with a claw. [Obs.] Shak. "shod": f Shoe. "glut": 1. To swallow, or to swallow greedlly; to gorge. Though every drop of water swear against it, And gape at widest to glut him. Shak. 2. To fill to satiety; to satisfy fully the desire or craving of; to satiate; to sate; to cloy. His faithful heart, a bloody sacrifice, Torn from his breast, to glut the tyrant's eyes. Dryden. The realms of nature and of art were ransacked to glut the wonder, lust, and ferocity of a degraded populace. C. Kingsley. To glut the market, to furnish an oversupply of any article of trade, so that there is no sale for it. To eat gluttonously or to satiety. Like three horses that have broken fence, And glutted all night long breast-deep in corn. Tennyson. 1. That which is swallowed. Milton 2. Plenty, to satiety or repletion; a full supply; hence, often, a supply beyond sufficiency or to loathing; over abundance; as, a glut of the market. A glut of those talents which raise men to eminence. Macaulay. 3. Something that fills up an opening; a clog. 4. (a) A wooden wedge used in splitting blocks. [Prov. Eng.] (b) (Mining) A piece of wood used to fill up behind cribbing or tubbing. Raymond. (c) (Bricklaying) A bat, or small piece of brick, used to fill out a course. Knight. (d) (Arch.) An arched opening to the ashpit of a klin. (e) A block used for a fulcrum. 5. (Zoöl.) The broad-nosed eel (Anguilla latirostris), found in Europe, Asia, the West Indies, etc. "satiate": Filled to satiety; glutted; sated; -- followed by with or of. "Satiate of applause." Pope. 1. To satisfy the appetite or desire of; tho feed to the full; to furnish enjoyment to, to the extent of desire; to sate; as, to satiate appetite or sense. These [smells] rather woo the sense than satiate it. Bacon. I may yet survive the malice of my enemies, although they should be satiated with my blood. Eikon Basilike. 2. To full beyond matural desire; to gratify to repletion or loathing; to surfeit; to glut. 3. To saturate. [Obs.] Sir I. Newton. Syn. -- To satisfy; sate; suffice; cloy; gorge; overfill; surfeit; glut. -- Satiate, Satisfy, Content. These words differ principally in degree. To Content is to make contented, even though every desire or appetite is not fully gratified. To satisfy is to appease fully the longings of desire. To satiate is to fill so completely that it is not possible to receive or enjoy more; hence, to overfill; to cause disgust in. Content with science in the vale of peace. Pope. His whole felicity is endless strife; No peace, no satisfaction, crowns his life. Beaumont. He may be satiated, but not satisfied. Norris. "surfeit": 1. Excess in eating and drinking. Let not Sir Surfeit sit at thy board. Piers Plowman. Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made. Shak. 2. Fullness and oppression of the system, occasioned often by excessive eating and drinking. To prevent surfeit and other diseases that are incident to those that heat their blood by travels. Bunyan. 3. Disgust caused by excess; satiety. Sir P. Sidney. Matter and argument have been supplied abundantly, and even to surfeit. Burke. 1. To load the stomach with food, so that sickness or uneasiness ensues; to eat to excess. They are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing. Shak. 2. To indulge to satiety in any gratification. 1. To feed so as to oppress the stomach and derange the function of the system; to overfeed, and produce satiety, sickness, or uneasiness; -- often reflexive; as, to surfeit one's self with sweets. 2. To fill to satiety and disgust; to cloy; as, he surfeits us with compliments. V. Knox.

Difficulty: 17.06
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8742 It wasn’t only hot and cloyingly humid: in the eight rainless months of the year it was constantly aswirl with grimy dust clouds that settled on and smeared every exposed surface with a catholic variety of filths.
832 herringbone prev next
Definition
Pertaining to, or like, the spine of a herring; especially, characterized by an arrangement of work in rows of parallel lines, which in the alternate rows slope in different directions. Herringbone stitch, a kind of cross-stitch in needlework, chiefly used in flannel. Simmonds. "needlework": 1. Work executed with a needle; sewed work; sewing; embroidery; also, the business of a seamstress. 2. The combination of timber and plaster making the outside framework of some houses.

Difficulty: 17.06
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15781 The portly figure stood in the broad curve of a high bay window, looking out at a wide view of roof-garden plateaus, balconies ablaze with green and yellow saris hung out to dry, and rust-red herringbone rooftops.
833 sheiks prev next

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2526 Some would be maimed in the camel races that provided afternoon entertainment for the rich sheiks, Prabaker said.
834 backsliders prev next
Definition  (backslide)
To slide back; to fall away; esp. to abandon gradually the faith and practice of a religion that has been professed. "professed": Openly declared, avowed, acknowledged, or claimed; as, a professed foe; a professed tyrant; a professed Christian. The professed (R. C. Ch.) , a certain class among the Jesuits bound by a special vow. See the note under Jesuit.

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3917 The brothers of the murdered man stalked among them, giving encouragement and consolation while they castigated the backsliders for their cowardice.
835 ingenuously prev next
Definition
In an ingenuous manner; openly; fairly; candidly; artlessly. Being required to explane himself, he ingeniously confessed. Ludlow. "ingeniously": In an ingenious manner; with ingenuity; skillfully; wittily; cleverly. "Too ingeniously politic." Sir W. Temple. "candidly": In a candid manner. "artlessly": In an artless manner; without art, skill, or guile; unaffectedly. Pope.

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6054 He stared at me ingenuously, unaware that the question might embarrass me or be taken as rude.
836 quadrangle prev next
Definition
1. (Geom.) A plane figure having four angles, and consequently four sides; any figure having four angles. 2. A square or quadrangular space or inclosure, such a space or court surrounded by buildings, esp. such a court in a college or public school in England. "inclosure": 1. The act of inclosing; the state of being inclosed, shut up, or encompassed; the separation of land from common ground by a fence. 2. That which is inclosed or placed within something; a thing contained; a space inclosed or fenced up. Within the inclosure there was a great store of houses. Hakluyt. 3. That which incloses; a barrier or fence. Breaking our inclosures every morn. W. Browne. "quadrangular": Having four angles, and consequently four sides; tetragonal. -- Quad*ran"gu*lar*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12322 On the other side it looked out, through steel mesh, onto the quadrangle of the police compound.
837 pronouncement prev next
Definition
The act of pronouncing; a declaration; a formal announcement.

Difficulty: 17.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14786 There was such apodictic certitude in Khader’s every pronouncement, such a decisive, incontrovertible assurance in the man, that it informed and composed even his stillnesses and silences.
838 fassen prev next

Difficulty: 17.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1241 Nicht zu fassen.’
839 toleration prev next
Definition
1. The act of tolerating; the allowance of that which is not wholly approved. 2. Specifically, the allowance of religious opinions and modes of worship in a state when contrary to, or different from, those of the established church or belief. 3. Hence, freedom from bigotry and severity in judgment of the opinions or belief of others, especially in respect to religious matters.

Difficulty: 17.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3267 When I understood that, a great many of the characteristically perplexing aspects of public life became comprehensible: from the acceptance of sprawling slums by city authorities, to the freedom that cows had to roam at random in the midst of traffic; from the toleration of beggars on the streets, to the concatenate complexity of the bureaucracies; and from the gorgeous, unashamed escapism of Bollywood movies, to the accommodation of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Tibet, Iran, Afghanistan, Africa, and Bangladesh, in a country that was already too crowded with sorrows and needs of its own.
840 piquantly prev next
Definition
In a piquant manner.

Difficulty: 17.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7626 The food was much more piquantly spiced with chillies and curries than any available in restaurants in the city, and much more delicious.
841 thumbtacks prev next

Difficulty: 17.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11153 He marvelled at how long it had taken to drive thumbtacks into its wriggling paws.
842 skein prev next
Definition
1. A quantity of yarn, thread, or the like, put up together, after it is taken from the reel, -- usually tied in a sort of knot. Note: A skein of cotton yarn is formed by eighty turns of the thread round a fifty-four inch reel. 2. (Wagon Making) A metallic strengthening band or thimble on the wooden arm of an axle. Knight. A flight of wild fowl (wild geese or the like). [Prov. Eng.]

Difficulty: 17.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13719 It astonished me, and it hurt me, after all I’d done there, and for all that they’d included me in the ragged skein of their too-many lives, that they still expected me to leave them, without a word of farewell, whenever the whim possessed me.
843 therefor prev next
Definition
For that, or this; for it. With certain officers ordained therefore. Chaucer.

Difficulty: 17.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13805 Lin built it, and he’s been working therefor a long time, helping the people… And they say stuff like, Everybody here has been treated at Lin’s clinic, free of charge, at one time or another, and he did a great job when the cholera came… And they told the cops about that little school you started, You see that little school for English?
844 stochastically prev next
Definition  (stochastic)
Conjectural; able to conjecture. [Obs.] Whitefoot. "conjectural": Dependent on conjecture; fancied; imagined; guessed at; undetermined; doubtful. And mak'st conjectural fears to come into me. Shak. A slight expense of conjectural analogy. Hugh Miller. Who or what such editor may be, must remain conjectural. Carlyle.

Difficulty: 17.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17135 Some foreigners I’d dealt with had told me that they loathed the kaleidoscopic turmoil of musical numbers, bursting stochastically between weeping mothers, sighing infatuates, and brawling villains.
845 fractious prev next
Definition
Apt to break out into a passion; apt to scold; cross; snappish; ugly; unruly; as, a fractious man; a fractious horse. Syn. -- Snappish; peevish; waspish; cross; irritable; perverse; pettish. -- Frac"tious*ly, v. -- Frac"tious*ness, n. "waspish": 1. Resembling a wasp in form; having a slender waist, like a wasp. 2. Quick to resent a trifling affront; characterized by snappishness; irritable; irascible; petulant; snappish. He was naturally a waspish and hot man. Bp. Hall. Much do I suffer, much, to keep in peace This jealous, waspish, wrong-head, rhyming race. Pope. Syn. -- Snappish; petulant; irritable; irascible; testy; peevish; captious. -- Wasp"ish*ly, adv. -- Wasp"ish*ness, n. "snappish": 1. Apt to snap at persons or things; eager to bite; as, a snapping cur. 2. Sharp in reply; apt to speak angrily or testily; easily provoked; tart; peevish. The taunting address of a snappish missanthrope. Jeffrey. -- Snap"pish*ly, adv. -- Snap"pish*ness, n. "peevish": 1. Habitually fretful; easily vexed or fretted; hard to please; apt to complain; querulous; petulant. "Her peevish babe." Wordsworth. She is peevish, sullen, froward. Shak. 2. Expressing fretfulness and discontent, or unjustifiable dissatisfaction; as, a peevish answer. 3. Silly; childish; trifling. [Obs.] To send such peevish tokens to a king. Shak. Syn. -- Querulous; petulant; cross; ill-tempered; testy; captious; discontented. See Fretful. "pettish": Fretful; peevish; moody; capricious; inclined to ill temper. "A pettish kind of humor." Sterne. -- Pet"tish*ly, adv. -- Pet"tish*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 261 The little guide grabbed my sleeve to lead me away from the fractious group, and toward the back of the bus.
846 dexterous prev next
Definition
1. Ready and expert in the use of the body and limbs; skillful and active with the hands; handy; ready; as, a dexterous hand; a dexterous workman. 2. Skillful in contrivance; quick at inventing expedients; expert; as, a dexterous manager. Dexterous the craving, fawning crowd to quit. Pope. 3. Done with dexterity; skillful; artful; as, dexterous management. "Dexterous sleights of hand." Trench. Syn. -- Adroit; active; expert; skillful; clever; able; ready; apt; handy; versed. "adroit": Dexterous in the use of the hands or in the exercise of the mental faculties; exhibiting skill and readiness in avoiding danger or escaping difficulty; ready in invention or execution; -- applied to persons and to acts; as, an adroit mechanic, an adroit reply. "Adroit in the application of the telescope and quadrant." Horsley. "He was adroit in intrigue." Macaulay. Syn. -- Dexterous; skillful; expert; ready; clever; deft; ingenious; cunning; ready-witted. "contrivance": 1. The act or faculty of contriving, inventing, devising, or planning. The machine which we are inspecting demonstrates, by its construction, contrivance and design. Contrivance must have had a contriver. Paley. 2. The thing contrived, invented, or planned; disposition of parts or causes by design; a scheme; plan; atrifice; arrangement. Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Burke. Syn. -- Device; plan; scheme; invention; machine; project; design; artifice; shift. See Device.

Difficulty: 17.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 604 The many customers crowded around his stall purchased the leaves as fast as his dexterous hands could fill them.
847 sacramental prev next
Definition
1. Of or pertaining to a sacrament or the sacraments; of the nature of a sacrament; sacredly or solemny binding; as, sacramental rites or elements. 2. Bound by a sacrament. The sacramental host of God's elect. Cowper. That which relates to a sacrament. Bp. Morton.

Difficulty: 17.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9624 ‘A man …’ he began, intoning the words with sacramental solemnity.
848 sterilised prev next

Difficulty: 17.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11491 Soup kitchens would be established in the chai shops and restaurants to provide safe, boiled food and sterilised cups and bowls.
849 contiguous prev next
Definition
In actual contact; touching; also, adjacent; near; neighboring; adjoining. The two halves of the paper did not appear fully divided . . . but seemed contiguous at one of their angles. Sir I. Newton. Sees no contiguous palace rear its head. Goldsmith. Contiguous angles. See Adjacent angles, under Angle. Syn. -- Adjoining; adjacent. See Adjacent. - Con*tig"u*ous*ly, adv. -- Con*tig"u*ous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 17.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26112 The Walidlalla council held a contiguous border with our own.
850 frontage prev next
Definition
The front part of an edifice or lot; extent of front. "edifice": A building; a structure; an architectural fabric; -- chiefly applied to elegant houses, and other large buildings; as, a palace, a church, a statehouse.

Difficulty: 17.01
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1359 The rectangular ground-floor room occupied a frontage equal to any four other restaurants, and was served by two metal doors that rolled up into wooden arches to give an expansive view of the Causeway, Colaba’s busiest and most colourful street.
851 sickbed prev next

Difficulty: 17.01
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18168 Maurizio gagged him, tied him to the sickbed, and went to work on him with the stiletto.
852 solidity prev next
Definition
1. The state or quality of being solid; density; consistency, -- opposed to fluidity; compactness; fullness of matter, -- opposed to openness or hollowness; strength; soundness, -- opposed to weakness or instability; the primary quality or affection of matter by which its particles exclude or resist all others; hardness; massiveness. That which hinders the approach of two bodies when they are moving one toward another, I call solidity. Locke. 2. Moral firmness; soundness; strength; validity; truth; certainty; - - as opposed to weakness or fallaciousness; as, the solidity of arguments or reasoning; the solidity of principles, triuths, or opinions. 3. (Geom.) The solid contents of a body; volume; amount of inclosed space. Syn. -- Firmness; solidness; hardness; density; compactness; strength; soundness; validity; certainty. "soundness": The quality or state of being sound; as, the soundness of timber, of fruit, of the teeth, etc.; the soundness of reasoning or argument; soundness of faith. Syn. -- Firmness; strength; solidity; healthiness; truth; rectitude. "firmness": The state or quality of being firm. Syn. -- Firmness, Constancy. Firmness belongs to the will, and constancy to the affections and principles; the former prevents us from yielding, and the latter from fluctuating. Without firmness a man has no character; "without constancy," says Addison, "there is neither love, friendship, nor virtue in the world." "massiveness": The state or quality of being massive; massiness. "solidness": 1. State or quality of being solid; firmness; compactness; solidity, as of material bodies. 2. Soundness; strength; truth; validity, as of arguments, reasons, principles, and the like. "hollowness": 1. State of being hollow. Bacon. 2. Insincerity; unsoundness; treachery. South. "compactness": The state or quality of being compact; close union of parts; density. "fluidity": The quality of being fluid or capable of flowing; a liquid, aëriform. or gaseous state; -- opposed to solidity. It was this want of organization, this looseness and fluidity of the new movement, that made it penetrate through every class of society. J. R. Green.

Difficulty: 17.01
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22144 Some of the older Afghan fighters rejected the newer weapon, with its smaller 5.45-millimetre round and its orange plastic magazine, preferring the solidity of the heavier AK-47.
853 pockmarked prev next
Definition
Marked by smallpox; pitted.

Difficulty: 17.01
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23842 He’d survived smallpox as a child, and his face was severely pockmarked with dozens of small, brown, dish-like spots.
854 suchlike prev next

Difficulty: 17.00
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8900 We meet every month, at least one time, and when our business and private matters are finished, we talk about philosophical subjects and the suchlike.
855 refracted prev next
Definition
1. (Bot. & Zoöl.) Bent backward angularly, as if half-broken; as, a refracted stem or leaf. 2. Turned from a direct course by refraction; as, refracted rays of light. "angularly": In an angular manner; with of at angles or corners. B. Jonson. "refraction": 1. The act of refracting, or the state of being refracted. 2. The change in the direction of ray of light, heat, or the like, when it enters obliquely a medium of a different density from that through which it has previously moved. Refraction out of the rarer medium into the denser, is made towards the perpendicular. Sir I. Newton. 3. (Astron.) (a) The change in the direction of a ray of light, and, consequently, in the apparent position of a heavenly body from which it emanates, arising from its passage through the earth's atmosphere; -- hence distinguished as atmospheric refraction, or astronomical refraction. (b) The correction which is to be deducted from the apparent altitude of a heavenly body on account of atmospheric refraction, in order to obtain the true altitude. Angle of refraction (Opt.), the angle which a refracted ray makes with the perpendicular to the surface separating the two media traversed by the ray. -- Conical refraction (Opt.), the refraction of a ray of light into an infinite number of rays, forming a hollow cone. This occurs when a ray of light is passed through crystals of some substances, under certain circumstances. Conical refraction is of two kinds; external conical refraction, in which the ray issues from the crystal in the form of a cone, the vertex of which is at the point of emergence; and internal conical refraction, in which the ray is changed into the form of a cone on entering the crystal, from which it issues in the form of a hollow cylinder. This singular phenomenon was first discovered by Sir W. R. Hamilton by mathematical reasoning alone, unaided by experiment. -- Differential refraction (Astron.), the change of the apparent place of one object relative to a second object near it, due to refraction; also, the correction required to be made to the observed relative places of the two bodies. -- Double refraction (Opt.), the refraction of light in two directions, which produces two distinct images. The power of double refraction is possessed by all crystals except those of the isometric system. A uniaxial crystal is said to be optically positive (like quartz), or optically negative (like calcite), or to have positive, or negative, double refraction, according as the optic axis is the axis of least or greatest elasticity for light; a biaxial crystal is similarly designated when the same relation holds for the acute bisectrix. -- Index of refraction. See under Index. -- Refraction circle (Opt.), an instrument provided with a graduated circle for the measurement of refraction. -- Refraction of latitude, longitude, declination, right ascension, etc., the change in the apparent latitude, longitude, etc., of a heavenly body, due to the effect of atmospheric refraction. -- Terrestrial refraction, the change in the apparent altitude of a distant point on or near the earth's surface, as the top of a mountain, arising from the passage of light from it to the eye through atmospheric strata of varying density.

Difficulty: 17.00
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16866 I remembered the excitement that had refracted in his eyes, and the pride, perhaps, when I’d proved that I understood his teaching.
856 handcart prev next
Definition
A cart drawn or pushed by hand.

Difficulty: 17.00
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19306 There was a handcart on the highway road.
857 nuzzled prev next
Definition  (nuzzle)
1. To noursle or nurse; to foster; to bring up. [Obs.] The people had been nuzzled in idolatry. Milton. 2. Etym: [Perh. a corruption of nestle. Cf. Nustle.] To nestle; to house, as in a nest. 1. To work with the nose, like a swine in the mud. And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine Sheathed, unaware, the tusk in his soft groin. Shak. He charged through an army of lawyers, sometimes . . . nuzzling like an eel in the mud. Arbuthnot. 2. To go with head poised like a swine, with nose down. Sir Roger shook his ears, and nuzzled along. Arbuthnot. 3. Etym: [Cf. Nuzzle, v. t., 2.] To hide the head, as a child in the mother's bosom; to nestle. 4. To loiter; to idle. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell. "idolatry": 1. The worship of idols, images, or anything which is not God; the worship of false gods. His eye surveyed the dark idolatries Of alienated Judah. Milton. 2. Excessive attachment or veneration for anything; respect or love which borders on adoration. Shak. "nestle": 1. To make and occupy a nest; to nest. [Obs.] The kingfisher ... nestles in hollow banks. L'Estrange. 2. To lie close and snug, as a bird in her nest; to cuddle up; to settle, as in a nest; to harbor; to take shelter. Their purpose was to fortify in some strong place of the wild country, and there nestle till succors came. Bacon. 3. To move about in one's place, like a bird when shaping the interior of her nest or a young bird getting close to the parent; as, a child nestles. To house, as in a nest. 2. To cherish, as a bird her young. "sheathed": 1. Povided with, or inclosed in, sheath. 2. (Bot.) Invested by a sheath, or cylindrical membranaceous tube, which is the base of the leaf, as the stalk or culm in grasses; vaginate. "noursle": To nurse; to rear; to bring up. [Obs.] [Written also nosel, nousel, nousle, nowsle, nusle, nuzzle, etc.] She noursled him till years he raught. Spenser. "etym": See Etymon. H. F. Talbot. "nustle": To fondle; to cherish. [Obs.]

Difficulty: 16.99
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9607 When the bear-handlers rushed to greet him, Kano drove his snout into their armpits, and nuzzled in their long, dread-locked hair, snuffling and sniffing at their scent.
858 pustules prev next
Definition  (pustule)
A vesicle or an elevation of the cuticle with an inflamed base, containing pus. Malignant pustule. See under Malignant. "cuticle": 1. (Anat.) The scarfskin or epidermis. See Skin. 2. (Bot.) The outermost skin or pellicle of a plant, found especially in leaves and young stems. 3. A thin skin formed on the surface of a liquid. "vesicle": A bladderlike vessel; a membranous cavity; a cyst; a cell. Specifically: --(a) (Bot.) A small bladderlike body in the substance of vegetable, or upon the surface of a leaf. (b) (Med.) A small, and more or less circular, elevation of the cuticle, containing a clear watery fluid. (c) (Anat.) A cavity or sac, especially one filled with fluid; as, the umbilical vesicle. (d) (Zoöl.) A small convex hollow prominence on the surface of a shell or a coral. (e) (Geol.) A small cavity, nearly spherical in form, and usually of the size of a pea or smaller, such as are common in some volcanic rocks. They are produced by the liberation of watery vapor in the molten mass.

Difficulty: 16.99
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12648 The small, round wounds they made soon festered into poison-filled pustules.
859 frieze prev next
Definition
(a) That part of the entablature of an order which is between the architrave and cornice. It is a flat member or face, either uniform or broken by triglyphs, and often enriched with figures and other ornaments of sculpture. (b) Any sculptured or richly ornamented band in a building or, by extension, in rich pieces of furniture. See Illust. of Column. Cornice or frieze with bossy sculptures graven. Milton. A kind of coarse woolen cloth or stuff with a shaggy or tufted (friezed) nap on one side. "Robes of frieze." Goldsmith. To make a nap on (cloth); to friz. See Friz, v. t., 2. Friezing machine, a machine for friezing cloth; a friezing machine. "woolen": 1. Made of wool; consisting of wool; as, woolen goods. 2. Of or pertaining to wool or woolen cloths; as, woolen manufactures; a woolen mill; a woolen draper. Woolen scribbler, a machine for combing or preparing wool in thin, downy, translucent layers. Cloth made of wool; woollen goods. "graven": Carved. Graven image, an idol; an object of worship carved from wood, stone, etc. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." Ex. xx. 4. "cornice": Any horizontal, molded or otherwise decorated projection which crowns or finishes the part to which it is affixed; as, the cornice of an order, pedestal, door, window, or house. Gwilt. Cornice ring, the ring on a cannon next behind the muzzle ring. "friz": 1. To curl or form into small curls, as hair, with a crisping pin; to crisp. With her hair frizzed short up to her ears. Pepys. 2. To form into little burs, prominences, knobs, or tufts, as the nap of cloth. 3. (Leather Manufacture) To soften and make of even thickness by rubbing, as with pumice stone or a blunt instrument. Frizzing machine. (a) (Fabrics) A machine for frizzing the surface of cloth. (b) (Wood Working) A bench with a revolving cutter head slightly protruding above its surface, for dressing boards. That which is frizzed; anything crisped or curled, as a wig; a frizzle. [Written also frizz.] He [Dr. Johnson], who saw in his glass how his wig became his face and head, might easily infer that a similar fullbottomed, well-curled friz of words would be no less becoming to his thoughts. Hare. "friezed": Gathered, or having the map gathered, into little tufts, knots, or protuberances. Cf. Frieze, v. t., and Friz, v. t., 2. "entablature": The superstructure which lies horizontally upon the columns. See Illust. of Column, Cornice. Note: It is commonly divided into architrave, the part immediately above the column; frieze, the central space; and cornice, the upper projecting moldings. Parker. "tufted": 1. Adorned with a tuft; as, the tufted duck. 2. Growing in tufts or clusters; tufty. The tufted crowtoe, and pale jessamine. Milton. Tufted trees and springing corn. Pope. Tufted duck (Zoöl.), the ring-necked duck. [Local, U.S.] "architrave": (a) The lower division of an entablature, or that part which rests immediately on the column, esp. in classical architecture. See Column. (b) The group of moldings, or other architectural member, above and on both sides of a door or other opening, especially if square in form.

Difficulty: 16.99
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27308 The elderly sculptor raised his grizzled brows when we entered his hut, but affected to ignore us and continued with the work of sanding and polishing a newly moulded section of a fibreglass religious frieze almost two metres in length.
860 irascible prev next
Definition
Prone to anger; easily provoked or inflamed to anger; choleric; irritable; as, an irascible man; an irascible temper or mood. -- I*ras"ci*ble*ness, n. -- I*ras"ci*bly, adv. "choleric": 1. Abounding with, or producing choler, or bile. Dryden. 2. Easily irritated; irascible; inclined to anger. 3. Angry; indicating anger; excited by anger. "Choleric speech." Sir W. Raleigh. Choleric temperament, the bilious temperament.

Difficulty: 16.97
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5393 A cool wind carried the clean, salt air in irascible gusts.
861 prohibitive prev next
Definition
That prohibits; prohibitory; as, a tax whose effect is prohibitive. "prohibitory": Tending to prohibit, forbid, or exclude; implying prohibition; forbidding; as, a prohibitory law; a prohibitory price. Prohibitory index. (R. C. Ch.) See under Index.

Difficulty: 16.97
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14047 The cost of the licence had always been prohibitive for Prabaker, and it had eluded his sub-miniature talent for thrift.
862 headwaiter prev next

Difficulty: 16.96
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5577 The headwaiter, a young Maharashtrian, hurried up to the car and nodded energetically as our driver ordered for us.
863 hydrochloride prev next
Definition
A compound of hydrochloric acid with a base; -- distinguished from a chloride, where only chlorine unites with the base.

Difficulty: 16.96
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6371 There was morphine hydrochloride, penicillin, and antibiotics for staph and strep infections.
864 vilify prev next
Definition
1. To make vile; to debase; to degrade; to disgrace. [R.] When themselves they vilified To serve ungoverned appetite. Milton. 2. To degrade or debase by report; to defame; to traduce; to calumniate. I. Taylor. Many passions dispose us to depress and vilify the merit of one rising in the esteem of mankind. Addison. 3. To treat as vile; to despise. [Obs.] I do vilify your censure. Beau. & Fl. "calumniate": To accuse falsely and maliciously of a crime or offense, or of something disreputable; to slander; to libel. Hatred unto the truth did always falsely report and calumniate all godly men's doings. Strype. Syn. -- To asperse; slander; defame; vilify; traduce; belie; bespatter; blacken; libel. See Asperse. To propagate evil reports with a design to injure the reputation of another; to make purposely false charges of some offense or crime. "debase": To reduce from a higher to a lower state or grade of worth, dignity, purity, station, etc.; to degrade; to lower; to deteriorate; to abase; as, to debase the character by crime; to debase the mind by frivolity; to debase style by vulgar words. The coin which was adulterated and debased. Hale. It is a kind of taking God's name in vain to debase religion with such frivolous disputes. Hooker. And to debase the sons, exalts the sires. Pope. Syn. -- To abase; degrade. See Abase. "traduce": 1. To transfer; to transmit; to hand down; as, to traduce mental qualities to one's descendants. [Obs.] Glanvill. 2. To translate from one language to another; as, to traduce and compose works. [Obs.] Golden Boke. 3. To increase or distribute by propagation. [Obs.] From these only the race of perfect animals were propagated and traduced over the earth. Sir M. Hale. 4. To draw away; to seduce. [Obs.] I can forget the weakness Of the traduced soldiers. Beau. & Fl. 5. To represent; to exhibit; to display; to expose; to make an example of. [Obs.] Bacon. 6. To expose to contempt or shame; to represent as blamable; to calumniate; to vilify; to defame. The best stratagem that Satan hath . . . is by traducing the form and manner of them [prayers], to bring them into contempt. Hooker. He had the baseness . . . to traduce me in libel. Dryden. Syn. -- To calumniate; vilify; defame; disparage; detract; depreciate; decry; slander.

Difficulty: 16.96
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6835 For several hours, his friends and relatives and neighbours took turns to vilify and accuse him, beating him with the stick he’d used to assault his wife so savagely.
865 plasticine prev next

Difficulty: 16.96
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8887 I’d just begun to master the sloppy grin that dumped itself on the plasticine muscles of my face when it was my turn to smoke again.
866 midriff prev next
Definition
See Diaphragm, n., 2. Smote him into the midriff with a stone. Milton. "smote": imp. (and rare p. p.) of Smite.

Difficulty: 16.96
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18671 Their jewels—hair clusters, plait tassels, ear rings, nose rings, necklaces, midriff chains, bangles, and anklets—struck such sparks of light from lanterns and electric bulbs that people blinked and flinched to look at them.
867 gyrating prev next
Definition  (gyrate)
Winding or coiled round; curved into a circle; taking a circular course. To revolve round a central point; to move spirally about an axis, as a tornado; to revolve. "spirally": In a spiral form, manner, or direction.

Difficulty: 16.96
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18720 I joined the thick, gyrating jungle of men in front of the stage, and danced until my thin shirt clung to me like seaweed in a shallow wave.
868 maan prev next

Difficulty: 16.96
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26751 ‘Gora chierra, kala maan,’ I said in answer, making circling gestures over my face and my heart.
869 agape prev next
Definition
Gaping, as with wonder, expectation, or eager attention. Dazzles the crowd and sets them all agape. Milton. The love feast of the primitive Christians, being a meal partaken of in connection with the communion.

Difficulty: 16.95
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24442 ‘Who survived with you?’ he asked, his mouth agape.
870 indefinable prev next
Definition
Incapable of being defined or described; inexplicable. Bp. Reynolds.

Difficulty: 16.94
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3869 She smiled back at him, despite herself, and felt a rush of well-being, an indefinable but overwhelmingly sanguine cheerfulness.
871 lawbreakers prev next
Definition  (lawbreaker)
One who disobeys the law; a criminal. -- Law"break`ing, n. & a.

Difficulty: 16.94
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4251 The men we joined in the bar were workers, farmers, and a routine assortment of lawbreakers.
872 outbuildings prev next
Definition  (outbuilding)
A building separate from, and subordinate to, the main house; an outhouse.

Difficulty: 16.94
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6287 Beyond the sub-station itself were office outbuildings, storage warehouses, and maintenance sheds.
873 gnashed prev next
Definition  (gnash)
To strike together, as in anger or pain; as, to gnash the teeth. To grind or strike the teeth together. There they him laid, Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.94
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6344 ‘Thank you very much, Abdullah,’ I gnashed out through clenched teeth.
874 swaddled prev next
Definition  (swaddle)
Anything used to swaddle with, as a cloth or band; a swaddling band. They put me in bed in all my swaddles. Addison. 1. To bind as with a bandage; to bind or warp tightly with clothes; to swathe; -- used esp. of infants; as, to swaddle a baby. They swaddled me up in my nightgown with long pieces of linen. Addison. 2. To beat; to cudgel. [Obs.] Hudibras. "swathe": To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers. Their children are never swathed or bound about with any thing when they are first born. Abp. Abbot. A bandage; a band; a swath. Wrapped me in above an hundred yards of swathe. Addison. Milk and a swathe, at first, his whole demand. Young. The solemn glory of the afternoon, with its long swathes of light between the far off rows of limes. G. Eliot. "swaddling": from Swaddle, v. Swaddling band, Swaddling cloth, or Swaddling clout, a band or cloth wrapped round an infant, especially round a newborn infant. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Luke ii. 12. "cudgel": A staff used in cudgel play, shorter than the quarterstaff, and wielded with one hand; hence, any heavy stick used as a weapon. He getteth him a grievous crabtree cudgel and . . . falls to rating of them as if they were dogs. Bunyan. Cudgel play, a fight or sportive contest with cudgels. -- To cross the cudgels, to forbear or give up the contest; -- a phrase borrowed from the practice of cudgel players, who lay one cudgel over another when the contest is ended. -- To take up cudgels for, to engage in a contest in behalf of (some one or something). To beat with a cudgel. An he here, I would cudgel him like a dog. Shak. To cudgel one's brains, to exercise one's wits.

Difficulty: 16.94
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Sen 23871 My hands were aching, and my feet, swaddled in three or more layers of socks, felt as if they were burning.
875 expatriates prev next
Definition  (expatriate)
1. To banish; to drive or force (a person) from his own country; to make an exile of. The expatriated landed interest of France. Burke. 2. Reflexively, as To expatriate one's self: To withdraw from one's native country; to renounce the rights and liabilities of citizenship where one is born, and become a citizen of another country.

Difficulty: 16.93
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2595 The evening crowd of tourists from Germany, Switzerland, France, England, Norway, America, Japan, and a dozen other countries thinned out, giving way to the night crowd of Indians and expatriates who called Bombay home.
876 flagstones prev next
Definition  (flagstone)
A flat stone used in paving, or any rock which will split into such stones. See Flag, a stone.

Difficulty: 16.93
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Sen 9716 They seemed to be unafraid of him, even to recognise him, and they settled on the flagstones once more, following him like tame puppies.
877 summarised prev next

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Sen 13612 ‘I buy a thousand American dollars, from a tourist, for eighteen thousand rupees, when the bank exchange rate is set at fifteen,’ Khaled summarised.
878 coalesced prev next
Definition  (coalesce)
1. To grow together; to unite by growth into one body; as, the parts separated by a wound coalesce. 2. To unite in one body or product; to combine into one body or community; as, vapors coalesce. The Jews were incapable of coalescing with other nations. Campbell. Certain combinations of ideas that, once coalescing, could not be shaken loose. De Quincey. Syn. -- See Add.

Difficulty: 16.93
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Sen 18379 The crowd that had coalesced there dispersed and disappeared.
879 topiary prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to ornamental gardening; produced by cutting, trimming, etc.; topiarian. Topiary work, arbors, shrubbery, hedges, or the like, cut and trimmed into fanciful forms, as of animals, building, etc. "shrubbery": 1. A collection of shrubs. 2. A place where shrubs are planted. Macaulay. "topiarian": Of or pertaining to the ornamental cutting and trimming of trees, hedges, etc.; practicing ornamental gardening. [R.] "The topiarian artist." Sir W. Scott. All the pedantries of the topiarian art. C. Kingsley.

Difficulty: 16.93
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18829 I sat beneath huge, fire-breathing dragons and ate Chinese broccoli with snow peas, garlic spinach, fried bean curd, and mushrooms in black bean sauce by the light of paper lanterns, while the windows gave a view of castellated battlements, gothic arches, and rosestudded topiary.
880 modernised prev next

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Sen 23169 The competition between the groups had become intense as Afghanistan rapidly modernised.
881 topmost prev next
Definition
Highest; uppermost; as, the topmost cliff; the topmost branch of a tree. The nightngale may claim the topmost bough. Cowper. "uppermost": Highest in place, position, rank, power, or the like; upmost; supreme. Whatever faction happens to be uppermost. Swift.

Difficulty: 16.93
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24574 There were several steps above the one on which I stood, and I imagined her, Madame Zhou, crouched there on the topmost step and breathing silently while she watched, and watched.
882 expatriate prev next
Definition
1. To banish; to drive or force (a person) from his own country; to make an exile of. The expatriated landed interest of France. Burke. 2. Reflexively, as To expatriate one's self: To withdraw from one's native country; to renounce the rights and liabilities of citizenship where one is born, and become a citizen of another country.

Difficulty: 16.93
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Sen 25920 The Iranian expatriate community in Bombay was huge, and I had many friends who’d lost their homeland and their families, and were struggling to survive.
883 affray prev next
Definition
1. To startle from quiet; to alarm. Smale foules a great heap That had afrayed [affrayed] me out of my sleep. Chaucer. 2. To frighten; to scare; to frighten away. That voice doth us affray. Shak. 1. The act of suddenly disturbing any one; an assault or attack. [Obs.] 2. Alarm; terror; fright. [Obs.] Spenser. 3. A tumultuous assault or quarrel; a brawl; a fray. "In the very midst of the affray." Motley. 4. (Law) The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others. Blackstone. Note: A fighting in private is not, in a legal sense, an affray. Syn. -- Quarrel; brawl; scuffle; encounter; fight; contest; feud; tumult; disturbance. "tumult": 1. The commotion or agitation of a multitude, usually accompanied with great noise, uproar, and confusion of voices; hurly-burly; noisy confusion. What meaneth the noise of this tumult 1 Sam. iv. 14. Till in loud tumult all the Greeks arose. Pope. 2. Violent commotion or agitation, with confusion of sounds; as, the tumult of the elements. Addison. 3. Irregular or confused motion; agitation; high excitement; as, the tumult of the spirits or passions. Syn. -- Uproar; ferment; disturbance; turbulence; disorder; confusion; noise; bluster; hubbub; bustle; stir; brawl; riot. To make a tumult; to be in great commotion. [Obs.] Importuning and tumulting even to the fear of a revolt. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.93
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27367 It took only seconds, of course, for more pariah dogs to join in the howling affray.
884 portent prev next
Definition
That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign. Shak. My loss by dire portents the god foretold. Dryden. "foretoken": Prognostic; previous omen. Sir P. Sidney. To foreshow; to presignify; to prognosticate. Whilst strange prodigious signs foretoken blood. Daniel.

Difficulty: 16.91
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Sen 2267 And with the seed of that resolve, born in that convulsion and portent, Prabaker’s dark circuit of the city began.
885 oases prev next

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Sen 5566 The owners of certain oases of noise and fun were permitted to bribe various officials and cops in order to stay open, virtually all night.
886 agonised prev next

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Sen 8690 But Nazeer screwed his face into agonised concentration, and spoke with unaccustomed courtesy.
887 latecomers prev next

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Sen 10414 By some mysterious, unspoken consensus, a narrow and erratic path was always left clean along the course of the track, so that latecomers might enter the slum without stepping in the filth that accumulated.
888 portents prev next
Definition  (portent)
That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign. Shak. My loss by dire portents the god foretold. Dryden. "foretoken": Prognostic; previous omen. Sir P. Sidney. To foreshow; to presignify; to prognosticate. Whilst strange prodigious signs foretoken blood. Daniel.

Difficulty: 16.91
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10557 The cloud-mottled night seemed full of signs and portents, as if fate itself was warning me to go or daring me to stay.
889 recalcitrants prev next
Definition  (recalcitrant)
Kicking back; recalcitrating; hence, showing repugnance or opposition; refractory. "refractory": 1. Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast. Raging appetites that are Most disobedient and refractory. Shak. 2. Resisting ordinary treatment; difficult of fusion, reduction, or the like; -- said especially of metals and the like, which do not readily yield to heat, or to the hammer; as, a refractory ore. Syn. -- Perverse; contumacious; unruly; stubborn; obstinate; unyielding; ungovernable; unmanageable. 1. A refractory person. Bp. Hall. 2. Refractoriness. [Obs.] Jer. TAylor. 3. OPottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles. Knight. "repugnance": The state or condition of being repugnant; opposition; contrariety; especially, a strong instinctive antagonism; aversion; reluctance; unwillingness, as of mind, passions, principles, qualities, and the like. That which causes us to lose most of our time is the repugnance which we naturally have to labor. Dryden. Let the foes quietly cut their throats, Without repugnancy. Shak. Syn. -- Aversion; reluctance; unwillingness; dislike; antipathy; hatred; hostility; irreconcilableness; contrariety; inconsistency. See Dislike.

Difficulty: 16.91
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14560 Not least in the spheres of his influence was intimidation, through force or blackmail, of political and bureaucratic recalcitrants.
890 idiosyncratic prev next
Definition
Of peculiar temper or disposition; belonging to one's peculiar and individual character.

Difficulty: 16.91
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Sen 15284 Renowned for its idiosyncratic handling as much as for its reliability and durability, the Bullet was a bike that demanded a relationship with its rider.
891 anarchism prev next
Definition
The doctrine or practice of anarchists.

Difficulty: 16.91
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Sen 15551 ‘No political philosophy I ever heard of loves the human race as much as anarchism.
892 roguish prev next
Definition
1. Vagrant. [Obs.] Spenser. His roguish madness Allows itself to anything. Shak. 2. Resembling, or characteristic of, a rogue; knavish. 3. Pleasantly mischievous; waggish; arch. The most bewitching leer with her eyes, the most roguish cast. Dryden. -- Rogu"ish*ly, adv. -- Rogu"ish*ness, n. "waggish": 1. Like a wag; mischievous in sport; roguish in merriment or good humor; frolicsome. "A company of waggish boys." L'Estrange. 2. Done, made, or laid in waggery or for sport; sportive; humorous; as, a waggish trick. -- Wag"gish*ly, adv. -- Wag"gish*ness, n. "knavish": 1. Like or characteristic of a knave; given to knavery; trickish; fraudulent; dishonest; villainous; as, a knavish fellow, or a knavish trick. "Knavish politicians." Macaulay. 2. Mischievous; roguish; waggish. Cupid is knavish lad, Thus to make poor females mad. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.91
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Sen 21585 ‘Tell me once more,’ Abdel Khader Khan commanded, with a roguish smile in his eye, as we watched the dancers from a vantage point beneath a shaded wall.
893 terse prev next
Definition
1. Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth; polished. [Obs.] Many stones, . . . although terse and smooth, have not this power attractive. Sir T. Browne. 2. Refined; accomplished; -- said of persons. [R. & Obs.] "Your polite and terse gallants." Massinger. 3. Elegantly concise; free of superfluous words; polished to smoothness; as, terse language; a terse style. Terse, luminous, and dignified eloquence. Macaulay. A poet, too, was there, whose verse Was tender, musical, and terse. Longfellow. Syn. -- Neat; concise; compact. Terse, Concise. Terse was defined by Johnson "cleanly written", i. e., free from blemishes, neat or smooth. Its present sense is "free from excrescences," and hence, compact, with smoothness, grace, or elegance, as in the following lones of Whitehead: - "In eight terse lines has Phædrus told (So frugal were the bards of old) A tale of goats; and closed with grace, Plan, moral, all, in that short space." It differs from concise in not implying, perhaps, quite as much condensation, but chiefly in the additional idea of "grace or elegance." -- Terse"ly, adv. -- Terse"ness, n. "smoothness": Quality or state of being smooth.

Difficulty: 16.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1170 ‘They’re wrong,’ she said with terse finality.
894 airily prev next
Definition
In an airy manner; lightly; gaily; jauntily; fippantly. "gaily": Merrily; showily. See gaily. "jauntily": In a jaunty manner.

Difficulty: 16.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5017 ‘No problem, waiting, Lin,’ Prabaker replied, airily.
895 topis prev next
Definition  (topi)
An antelope (Damaliscus corrigum jimela) having a glossy purplish brown coat. It is related to the blesbok and is native of British East Africa. Also, any of various related varieties of other districts south of the Sahara. "purplish": Somewhat purple. Boyle. "blesbok": A South African antelope (Alcelaphus albifrons), having a large white spot on the forehead.

Difficulty: 16.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6327 He is the king here, in this club for kala topis.’
896 topi prev next
Definition
An antelope (Damaliscus corrigum jimela) having a glossy purplish brown coat. It is related to the blesbok and is native of British East Africa. Also, any of various related varieties of other districts south of the Sahara. "purplish": Somewhat purple. Boyle. "blesbok": A South African antelope (Alcelaphus albifrons), having a large white spot on the forehead.

Difficulty: 16.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6328 Kala topi means black hat in Hindi, and it’s a phrase used, sometimes, to describe a thief, referring to the black-banded hats that convicted thieves were forced to wear in Bombay’s Arthur Road Prison.
897 tersely prev next
Definition  (terse)
1. Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth; polished. [Obs.] Many stones, . . . although terse and smooth, have not this power attractive. Sir T. Browne. 2. Refined; accomplished; -- said of persons. [R. & Obs.] "Your polite and terse gallants." Massinger. 3. Elegantly concise; free of superfluous words; polished to smoothness; as, terse language; a terse style. Terse, luminous, and dignified eloquence. Macaulay. A poet, too, was there, whose verse Was tender, musical, and terse. Longfellow. Syn. -- Neat; concise; compact. Terse, Concise. Terse was defined by Johnson "cleanly written", i. e., free from blemishes, neat or smooth. Its present sense is "free from excrescences," and hence, compact, with smoothness, grace, or elegance, as in the following lones of Whitehead: - "In eight terse lines has Phædrus told (So frugal were the bards of old) A tale of goats; and closed with grace, Plan, moral, all, in that short space." It differs from concise in not implying, perhaps, quite as much condensation, but chiefly in the additional idea of "grace or elegance." -- Terse"ly, adv. -- Terse"ness, n. "smoothness": Quality or state of being smooth.

Difficulty: 16.90
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Sen 12023 ‘Bad business, Lin,’ Anand said tersely.
898 rima prev next
Definition
A narrow and elongated aperture; a cleft; a fissure.

Difficulty: 16.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20870 And so it was that I rode during the day, acclimatising myself to the thinner air above five thousand feet, and at night read the diaries and journals of long-dead explorers, extinct editions of Greek classics, eccentrically annotated volumes of Shakespeare, and a dizzyingly passionate terza rima translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy.
899 meniscus prev next
Definition
1. A crescent. 2. (Opt.) A lens convex on one side and concave on the other. 3. (Anat.) An interarticular synovial cartilage or membrane; esp., one of the intervertebral synovial disks in some parts of the vertebral column of birds. Converging meniscus, Diverging meniscus. See Lens. "intervertebral": Between vertebræ. -- In`ter*ver"te*bral*ly, adv. "interarticular": Situated between joints or articulations; as, interarticular cartilages and ligaments. "concave": 1. Hollow and curved or rounded; vaulted; -- said of the interior of a curved surface or line, as of the curve of the of the inner surface of an eggshell, in opposition to convex; as, a concave mirror; the concave arch of the sky. 2. Hollow; void of contents. [R.] As concave . . . as a worm-eaten nut. Shak. 1. A hollow; an arched vault; a cavity; a recess. Up to the fiery concave towering hight. Milton. 2. (Mech.) A curved sheath or breasting for a revolving cylinder or roll. To make hollow or concave. "vertebral": 1. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to a vertebræ, or the vertebral column; spinal; rachidian. 2. Vertebrate. A vertebrate. [R.] "diverging": Tending in different directions from a common center; spreading apart; divergent. Diverging series (Math.), a series whose terms are larger as the series is extended; a series the sum of whose terms does not approach a finite limit when the series is extended indefinitely; -- opposed to a converging series. "convex": Rising or swelling into a spherical or rounded form; regularly protuberant or bulging; -- said of a spherical surface or curved line when viewed from without, in opposition to concave. Drops of water naturally form themselves into figures with a convex surface. Whewell. Double convex, convex on both sides; convexo-convex. A convex body or surface. Half heaven's convex glitters with the flame. Tickell. Note: This word was often pronounced con-vex' by early writers, as by Milton, and occasionallyby later poets. "synovial": Of or pertaining to synovia; secreting synovia. Synovial capsule, a closed sac of synovial membrane situated between the articular surfaces at diarthrodial joints. -- Synovial fluid, synovia. -- Synovial membrane, the dense and very smooth connective tissue membrane which secretes synovia and surrounds synovial capsules and other synovial cavities.

Difficulty: 16.90
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27884 SUNLIGHT SHATTERED ON THE WATER, shedding streaks in crystal-brilliant slivers across waves rolling swollen on the broad meniscus of the bay.
900 verbena prev next
Definition
A genus of herbaceous plants of which several species are extensively cultivated for the great beauty of their flowers; vervain. Note: Verbena, or vervain, was used by the Greeks, the Romans, and the Druids, in their sacred rites. Brewer. Essence of verbena, Oil of verbena, a perfume prepared from the lemon verbena; also, a similar perfume properly called grass oil. See Grass oil, under Grass. -- Lemon, or Sweet, verbena, a shrubby verbenaceous plant (Lippia citriodora), with narrow leaves which exhale a pleasant, lemonlike fragrance when crushed. "shrubby": 1. Full of shrubs. 2. Of the nature of a shrub; resembling a shrub. "Shrubby browse." J. Philips. "verbenaceous": Of or pertaining to a natural order (Verbenaceæ) of gamopetalous plants of which Verbena is the type. The order includes also the black and white mangroves, and many plants noted for medicinal use or for beauty of bloom. "herbaceous": Of or pertaining to herbs; having the nature, texture, or characteristics, of an herb; as, herbaceous plants; an herbaceous stem.

Difficulty: 16.89
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17776 The perfume of verbena flowers lingered on my lips.
901 ilia prev next

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Sen 22858 La ilia ha ill’Allah
902 indolent prev next
Definition
1. Free from toil, pain, or trouble. [Obs.] 2. Indulging in ease; avoiding labor and exertion; habitually idle; lazy; inactive; as, an indolent man. To waste long nights in indolent repose. Pope. 3. (Med.) Causing little or no pain or annoyance; as, an indolent tumor. Syn. -- Idle; lazy; slothful; sluggish; listless; inactive; inert. See Idle. "listless": Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. " A listless unconcern." Thomson. Benumbed with cold, and listless of their gain. Dryden. I was listless, and desponding. Swift. Syn. -- Heedless; careless; indifferent; vacant; uninterested; languid; spiritless; supine; indolent. -- List"less*ly, adv. -- List"less*ness, n. "slothful": Addicted to sloth; inactive; sluggish; lazy; indolent; idle. He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. Prov. xviii. 9. -- Sloth"ful*ly, adv. -- Sloth"ful*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1192 He spoke a lavishly accented English, using the language to provoke and criticise friend and stranger alike with an indolent malignity.
903 curdle prev next
Definition
1. To change into curd; to coagulate; as, rennet causes milk to curdle. Thomson. 2. To thicken; to congeal. Then Mary could feel her heart's blood curdle cold. Southey. 1. To change into curd; to cause to coagulate. "To curdle whites of eggs" Boyle. 2. To congeal or thicken. My chill blood is curdled in my veins. Dryden. "coagulate": Coagulated. [Obs.] Shak. To cause (a liquid) to change into a curdlike or semisolid state, not by evaporation but by some kind of chemical reaction; to curdle; as, rennet coagulates milk; heat coagulates the white of an egg. To undergo coagulation. Boyle. Syn. -- To thicken; concrete; curdle; clot; congeal. "thicken": To make thick (in any sense of the word). Specifically: -- (a) To render dense; to inspissate; as, to thicken paint. (b) To make close; to fill up interstices in; as, to thicken cloth; to thicken ranks of trees or men. (c) To strengthen; to confirm. [Obs.] And this may to thicken other proofs. Shak. (d) To make more frequent; as, to thicken blows. To become thick. "Thy luster thickens when he shines by." Shak. The press of people thickens to the court. Dryden. The combat thickens, like the storm that flies. Dryden. "rennet": A name of many different kinds of apples. Cf. Reinette. Mortimer. The inner, or mucous, membrance of the fourth stomach of the calf, or other young ruminant; also, an infusion or preparation of it, used for coagulating milk. [Written also runnet.] Cheese rennet. (Bot.) See under Cheese. -- Rennet ferment (Physiol. Chem.), a ferment, present in rennet and in variable quantity in the gastric juice of most animals, which has the power of curdling milk. The ferment presumably acts by changing the casein of milk from a soluble to an insoluble form. -- Rennet stomach (Anat.), the fourth stomach, or abomasum, of ruminants. "congeal": 1. To change from a fluid to a solid state by cold; to freeze. A vapory deluge lies to snow congealed. Thomson. 2. To affect as if by freezing; to check the flow of, or cause to run cold; to chill. As if with horror to congeal his blood. Stirling. To grow hard, stiff, or thick, from cold or other causes; to become solid; to freeze; to cease to flow; to run cold; to be chilled. Lest zeal, now melted . . . Cool and congeal again to what it was. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2780 ‘If you want to curdle the milk of your human kindness, or turn your compassion into contempt, get a job as a waitress or a cleaner.
904 ayurvedic prev next

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6612 In the main I approved of them, and even adopted them wherever it was possible, preferring some of the ayurvedic medicines to their western pharmaceutical equivalents.
905 antechamber prev next
Definition
1. A chamber or apartment before the chief apartment and leading into it, in which persons wait for audience; an outer chamber. See Lobby. 2. A space viewed as the outer chamber or the entrance to an interior part. The mouth, the antechamber to the digestive canal. Todd & Bowman.

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9438 We stepped into an antechamber that contained a desk, a small metal chair, and a bamboo cot.
906 antechambers prev next
Definition  (antechamber)
1. A chamber or apartment before the chief apartment and leading into it, in which persons wait for audience; an outer chamber. See Lobby. 2. A space viewed as the outer chamber or the entrance to an interior part. The mouth, the antechamber to the digestive canal. Todd & Bowman.

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12326 Anyone likely to stay for a week or longer in the Colaba lock-up climbed the steps or was dragged up them, as I was, and passed through the sliding steel gate into one of hell’s antechambers.
907 lilt prev next
Definition
1. To do anything with animation and quickness, as to skip, fly, or hop. [Prov. Eng.] Wordsworth. 2. To sing cheerfully. [Scot.] To utter with spirit, animation, or gayety; to sing with spirit and liveliness. A classic lecture, rich in sentiment, With scraps of thundrous epic lilted out By violet-hooded doctors. Tennyson. 1. Animated, brisk motion; spirited rhythm; sprightliness. The movement, the lilt, and the subtle charm of the verse. F. Harrison. 2. A lively song or dance; a cheerful tune. The housewife went about her work, or spun at her wheel, with a lilt upon her lips. J. C. Shairp. "quickness": 1. The condition or quality of being quick or living; life. [Obs.] Touch it with thy celestial quickness. Herbert. 2. Activity; briskness; especially, rapidity of motion; speed; celerity; as, quickness of wit. This deed . . . must send thee hence With fiery quickness. Shak. His mind had, indeed, great quickness and vigor. Macaulay. 3. Acuteness of perception; keen sensibility. Would not quickness of sensation be an inconvenience to an animal that must lie still Locke 4. Sharpness; pungency of taste. Mortimer. Syn. -- Velocity; celerity; rapidity; speed; haste; expedition; promptness; dispatch; swiftness; nimbleness; fleetness; agility; briskness; liveliness; readiness; sagacity; shrewdness; shrewdness; sharpness; keenness. "gayety": 1. The state of being gay; merriment; mirth; acts or entertainments prompted by, or inspiring, merry delight; -- used often in the plural; as, the gayeties of the season. 2. Finery; show; as, the gayety of dress. Syn. -- Liveliness; mirth; animation; vivacity; glee; blithesomeness; sprightliness; jollity. See Liveliness. "thundrous": Thunderous; sonorous. "Scraps of thunderous epic." Tennyson. "sprightliness": The quality or state of being sprightly; liveliness; life; briskness; vigor; activity; gayety; vivacity. In dreams, observe with what a sprightliness and alacrity does she [the soul] exert herself! Addison. "liveliness": 1. The quality or state of being lively or animated; sprightliness; vivacity; animation; spirit; as, the liveliness of youth, contrasted with the gravity of age. B. Jonson. 2. An appearance of life, animation, or spirit; as, the liveliness of the eye or the countenance in a portrait. 3. Briskness; activity; effervescence, as of liquors. Syn. -- Sprightliness; gayety; animation; vivacity; smartness; briskness; activity. -- Liveliness, Gayety, Animation, Vivacity. Liveliness is an habitual feeling of life and interest; gayety refers more to a temporary excitement of the animal spirits; animation implies a warmth of emotion and a corresponding vividness of expressing it, awakened by the presence of something which strongly affects the mind; vivacity is a feeling between liveliness and animation, having the permanency of the one, and, to some extent, the warmth of the other. Liveliness of imagination; gayety of heart; animation of countenance; vivacity of gesture or conversation.

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15801 ‘Indeed, they are,’ he said in the mix of Indian lilt and BBC newsreader’s tone that I’d come to enjoy.
908 martinets prev next
Definition  (martinet)
In military language, a strict disciplinarian; in general, one who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of discipline, or to forms and fixed methods. [Hence, the word is commonly employed in a depreciatory sense.] The martin. "depreciatory": Tending to depreciate; undervaluing; depreciative. "disciplinarian": Pertaining to discipline. "Displinarian system." Milman. 1. One who disciplines; one who excels in training, especially with training, especially with regard to order and obedience; one who enforces rigid discipline; a stickler for the observance of rules and methods of training; as, he is a better disciplinarian than scholar. 2. A Puritan or Presbyterian; -- because of rigid adherence to religious or church discipline. [Obs.] "adherence": 1. The quality or state of adhering. 2. The state of being fixed in attachment; fidelity; steady attachment; adhesion; as, adherence to a party or to opinions. Syn. -- Adherence, Adhesion. These words, which were once freely interchanged, are now almost entirely separated. Adherence is no longer used to denote physical union, but is applied, to mental states or habits; as, a strict adherence to one's duty; close adherence to the argument, etc. Adhesion is now confined chiefly to the physical sense, except in the phrase "To give in one's adhesion to a cause or a party."

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17391 Abdul’s agents in South America, Asia, and Africa established contact with embezzlers, torturers, mandarins, and martinets who’d supported fallen tyrannies.
909 proclivity prev next
Definition
1. Inclination; propensity; proneness; tendency. "A proclivity to steal." Abp. Bramhall. 2. Readiness; facility; aptitude. He had such a dexterous proclivity as his teachers were fain to restrain his forwardness. Sir H. Wotton. "dexterous": 1. Ready and expert in the use of the body and limbs; skillful and active with the hands; handy; ready; as, a dexterous hand; a dexterous workman. 2. Skillful in contrivance; quick at inventing expedients; expert; as, a dexterous manager. Dexterous the craving, fawning crowd to quit. Pope. 3. Done with dexterity; skillful; artful; as, dexterous management. "Dexterous sleights of hand." Trench. Syn. -- Adroit; active; expert; skillful; clever; able; ready; apt; handy; versed. "proneness": 1. The quality or state of being prone, or of bending downward; as, the proneness of beasts is opposed to the erectness of man. 2. The state of lying with the face down; -- opposed to supineness. 3. Descent; declivity; as, the proneness of a hill. 4. Inclination of mind, heart, or temper; propension; disposition; as, proneness to self-gratification. "forwardness": The quality of being forward; cheerful readiness; promtness; as, the forwardness of Christians in propagating the gospel. 2. An advanced stage of progress or of preparation; advancement; as, his measures were in great forwardness. Robertson. 3. Eagerness; ardor; as, it is difficult to restrain the forwardness of youth. 3. Boldness; confidence; assurance; want of due reserve or modesty. In France it is usual to bring children into company, and cherish in them, from their infancy, a kind of forwardness and assurance. Addison. 5. A state of advance beyond the usual degree; prematureness; precocity; as, the forwardnessof spring or of corn; the forwardness of a pupil. He had such a dexterous proclivity, as his teachers were fain to restrain his forwardness. Sir H. Wotton. Syn. -- Promptness; promptitude; eagerness; ardor; zeal; assurance; confidence; boldness; impudence; presumption.

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18395 The new group took its more erratic tone from Didier, who combined the expressive mordancy of his sarcasm with a proclivity for the vulgar, the obscene, and the scatological.
910 frostbitten prev next

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23734 My skin was tight on my face, drawn back by the muscles of my neck and jaw, those muscles in turn pulled taut by the shoulders and arms and frostbitten hands, clutching the final agony of the gun.
911 kaisa prev next

Difficulty: 16.88
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24164 ‘Hamara beta Khaled, kaisa hain?’ How is our son, Khaled?
912 daunted prev next
Definition  (daunt)
1. To overcome; to conquer. [Obs.] 2. To repress or subdue the courage of; to check by fear of danger; to cow; to intimidate; to dishearten. Some presences daunt and discourage us. Glanvill. Syn. -- To dismay; appall. See Dismay. "appall": 1. To make pale; to blanch. [Obs.] The answer that ye made to me, my dear, . . . Hath so appalled my countenance. Wyatt. 2. To weaken; to enfeeble; to reduce; as, an old appalled wight. [Obs.] Chaucer. Whine, of its own nature, will not congeal and freeze, only it will lose the strength, and become appalled in extremity of cold. Holland. 3. To depress or discourage with fear; to impress with fear in such a manner that the mind shrinks, or loses its firmness; to overcome with sudden terror or horror; to dismay; as, the sight appalled the stoutest heart. The house of peers was somewhat appalled at this alarum. Clarendon. Syn. -- To dismay; terrify; daunt; frighten; affright; scare; depress. See Dismay. 1. To grow faint; to become weak; to become dismayed or discouraged. [Obs.] Gower. 2. To lose flavor or become stale. [Obs.] Terror; dismay. [Poet.] Cowper. "dishearten": To discourage; to deprive of courage and hope; to depress the spirits of; to deject. Regiments . . . utterly disorganized and disheartened. Macaulay. Syn. -- To dispirit; discourage; depress; deject; deter; terrify.

Difficulty: 16.87
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9753 ‘Well, I’ll be happy to try,’ I stammered, bewildered by the request, but not daunted by it.
913 decibel prev next

Difficulty: 16.87
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25046 ‘I think Ghani did try to warn Khaderbhai what was in his heart,’ Salman said thoughtfully, his voice clear and his English rounded to the nearest decibel point.
914 churlishness prev next
Definition
Rudeness of manners or temper; lack of kindness or courtesy.

Difficulty: 16.86
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1214 The churlishness of Leopold’s waiters was legendary.
915 overhangs prev next
Definition  (overhang)
1. To impend or hang over. [R.] Beau. & Fl. 2. To hang over; to jut or project over. Pope. To jut over. Milton. 1. In a general sense, that which just out or projects; a projection; also, the measure of the projection; as, the overhang is five feet. 2. Specifically: The projection of an upper part (as a roof, an upper story, or other part) of a building beyond the lower part; as, the overhang of a roof, of the eaves, etc. 3. (Naut.) The portion of the bow or stem of a vessel that projects over the water beyond the water line. 4. (Mach.) The projection of a part beyond another part that is directly below it, or beyond a part by which it is supported; as, the overhang of a shaft; i. e., its projection beyond its bearing. "eaves": 1. (Arch.) The edges or lower borders of the roof of a building, which overhang the walls, and cast off the water that falls on the roof. 2. Brow; ridge. [Obs.] "Eaves of the hill." Wyclif. 3. Eyelids or eyelashes. And closing eaves of wearied eyes. Tennyson. Eaves board (Arch.), an arris fillet, or a thick board with a feather edge, nailed across the rafters at the eaves of a building, to raise the lower course of slates a little, or to receive the lowest course of tiles; -- called also eaves catch and eaves lath. -- Eaves channel, Eaves gutter, Eaves trough. Same as Gutter, 1. -- Eaves molding (Arch.), a molding immediately below the eaves, acting as a cornice or part of a cornice. -- Eaves swallow (Zoöl.). (a) The cliff swallow; -- so called from its habit of building retort-shaped nests of mud under the eaves of buildings. See Cliff swallow, under Cliff. (b) The European swallow. "jut": 1. To shoot out or forward; to project beyond the main body; as, the jutting part of a building. "In jutting rock and curved shore." Wordsworth. It seems to jut out of the structure of the poem. Sir T. Browne. 2. To butt. [Obs.] "The jutting steer." Mason. 1. That which projects or juts; a projection. 2. A shove; a push. [Obs.] Udall. "impend": To pay. [Obs.] Fabyan. To hang over; to be suspended above; to threaten frome near at hand; to menace; to be imminent. See Imminent. Destruction sure o'er all your heads impends. Pope.

Difficulty: 16.86
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7724 The narrow lanes, obscured by ragged overhangs, were only partially visible and seemed more like tunnels than streets.
916 obliteration prev next
Definition
The act of obliterating, or the state of being obliterated; extinction. Sir. M. Hale.

Difficulty: 16.86
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7939 Somehow, the soundlessness of that methodical, scouring obliteration struck at us all.
917 greedily prev next
Definition
, adv. In a greedy manner.

Difficulty: 16.86
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8456 ‘It is also a language of love and money,’ she chuckled greedily.
918 churlish prev next
Definition
1. Like a churl; rude; cross-grained; ungracious; surly; illiberal; niggardly. "Churlish benefits." Ld. Burleigh. Half mankind maintain a churlish strife. Cowper. 2. Wanting pliancy; unmanageable; unyielding; not easily wrought; as, a churlish soil; the churlish and intractable nature of some minerals. Boyle. "ungracious": 1. Not gracious; showing no grace or kindness; being without good will; unfeeling. Shak. 2. Having no grace; graceless; wicked. [Obs.] Shak. 3. Not well received; offensive; unpleasing; unacceptable; not favored. Anything of grace toward the Irish rebels was as ungracious at Oxford as at London. Clarendon. -- Un*gra"cious*ly, adv. -- Un*gra"cious*ness, n. "illiberal": 1. Not liberal; not free or generous; close; niggardly; mean; sordid. "A thrifty and illiberal hand." Mason. 2. Indicating a lack of breeding, culture, and the like; ignoble; rude; narrow-minded; disingenuous. 3. Not well authorized or elegant; as, illiberal words in Latin. [R.] Chesterfield. "niggardly": Meanly covetous or avarcious in dealing with others; stingy; niggard. Where the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly. Bp. Hall. Syn. -- Avarcious; covetous; parsimonious; sparing; miserly; penurios; sordid; stingy. See Avaricious. In a niggard manner. "churl": 1. A rustic; a countryman or laborer. "A peasant or churl." Spenser. Your rank is all reversed; let men of cloth Bow to the stalwart churls in overalls. Emerson. 2. A rough, surly, ill-bred man; a boor. A churl's courtesy rarely comes, but either for gain or falsehood. Sir P. Sidney. 3. A selfish miser; an illiberal person; a niggard. Like to some rich churl hoarding up his pelf. Drayton. Churlish; rough; selfish. [Obs.] Ford. "pliancy": The quality or state of being pliant in sense; as, the pliancy of a rod. "Avaunt all specious pliancy of mind." Wordsworth. "intractable": Not tractable; not easily governed, managed, or directed; indisposed to be taught, disciplined, or tamed; violent; stubborn; obstinate; refractory; as, an intractable child. Syn. -- Stubborn; perverse; obstinate; refractory; cross; unmanageable; unruly; headstrong; violent; ungovernable; unteachable. -- In*tract"a*ble*ness, n. -- In*tract"a*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.86
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10407 Tariq had said nothing on the walk, and I, burdened by worry about how to cope with him and the responsibility for his welfare—burdened by the boy himself, it seemed to me then—kept a churlish silence.
919 meander prev next
Definition
1. A winding, crooked, or involved course; as, the meanders of the veins and arteries. Sir M. Hale. While lingering rivers in meanders glide. Sir R. Blackmore. 2. A tortuous or intricate movement. 3. (Arch.) Fretwork. See Fret. To wind, turn, or twist; to make flexuous. Dryton. To wind or turn in a course or passage; to be intricate. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion Through wood and dale the sacred river ran. Coleridge. "mazy": Perplexed with turns and windings; winding; intricate; confusing; perplexing; embarrassing; as, mazy error. Milton. To range amid the mazy thicket. Spenser. To run the ring, and trace the mazy round. Dryden. "fretwork": Work adorned with frets; ornamental openwork or work in relief, esp. when elaborate and minute in its parts. Heuce, any minute play of light andshade, dark and light, or the like. Banqueting on the turf in the fretwork of shade and sunshine. Macaulay. "flexuous": 1. Having turns, windings, or flexures. 2. (Bot.) Having alternate curvatures in opposite directions; bent in a zigzag manner. 3. Wavering; not steady; flickering. Bacon. "tortuous": 1. Bent in different directions; wreathed; twisted; winding; as, a tortuous train; a tortuous train; a tortuous leaf or corolla. The badger made his dark and tortuous hole on the side of every hill where the copsewood grew thick. Macaulay. 2. Fig.: Deviating from rectitude; indirect; erroneous; deceitful. That course became somewhat lesstortuous, when the battle of the Boyne had cowed the spirit of the Jakobites. Macaulay. 3. Injurious: tortious. [Obs.] 4. (Astrol.) Oblique; -- applied to the six signs of the zodiac (from Capricorn to Gemini) which ascend most rapidly and obliquely. [Obs.] Skeat. Infortunate ascendent tortuous. Chaucer. --Tor"tu*ous*ly, adv. -- Tor"tu*ous*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.86
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10415 I came home late at night so often that I’d learned how to negotiate the eccentric meander of that clean path without stumbling or tripping on the edges of the many large potholes that no-one ever seemed inclined to repair.
920 riven prev next
Definition
p. p. & a. from Rive. "rive": To rend asunder by force; to split; to cleave; as, to rive timber for rails or shingles. I shall ryve him through the sides twain. Chaucer. The scolding winds have rived the knotty oaks. Shak. Brutus hath rived my heart. Shak. To be split or rent asunder. Freestone rives, splits, and breaks in any direction. Woodward. A place torn; a rent; a rift. [Prov. Eng.]

Difficulty: 16.86
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23185 The skin on my face was wooden, and as riven with cracks as the feet of the farmers in Prabaker’s village.
921 rived prev next
Definition  (rive)
To rend asunder by force; to split; to cleave; as, to rive timber for rails or shingles. I shall ryve him through the sides twain. Chaucer. The scolding winds have rived the knotty oaks. Shak. Brutus hath rived my heart. Shak. To be split or rent asunder. Freestone rives, splits, and breaks in any direction. Woodward. A place torn; a rent; a rift. [Prov. Eng.] "freestone": A stone composed of sand or grit; -- so called because it is easily cut or wrought. Having the flesh readily separating from the stone, as in certain kinds of peaches. "rend": 1. To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to tear asunder; to split; to burst; as, powder rends a rock in blasting; lightning rends an oak. The dreadful thunder Doth rend the region. Shak. 2. To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force. An empire from its old foundations rent. Dryden. I will surely rend the kingdom from thee. 1 Kings xi. 11. To rap and rend. See under Rap, v. t., to snatch. Syn. -- To tear; burst; break; rupture; lacerate; fracture; crack; split. To be rent or torn; to become parted; to sepparate; to split. Jer. Taylor. "knotty": 1. Full of knots; knotted; having many knots; as, knotty timber; a knotty rope. 2. Hard; rugged; as, a knotty head.[R.] Rewe. 3. Difficult; intricate; perplexed. A knotty point to which we now proceed Pope.

Difficulty: 16.86
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23826 Unfortunately, I turned the burst eardrum to the ground, and the violence of the blow rived the wound even further.
922 phonetic prev next
Definition
1. Of or pertaining to the voice, or its use. 2. Representing sounds; as, phonetic characters; -- opposed to ideographic; as, a phonetic notation. Phonetic spelling, spelling in phonetic characters, each representing one sound only; -- contrasted with Romanic spelling, or that by the use of the Roman alphabet. "ideographic": Of or pertaining to an ideogram; representing ideas by symbols, independently of sounds; as, 9 represents not the word "nine," but the idea of the number itself. -- I`de*o*graph"ic*al*ly, adv. "romanic": 1. Of or pertaining to Rome or its people. 2. Of or pertaining to any or all of the various languages which, during the Middle Ages, sprung out of the old Roman, or popular form of Latin, as the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Provencal, etc. 3. Related to the Roman people by descent; -- said especially of races and nations speaking any of the Romanic tongues. Romanic spelling, spelling by means of the letters of the Roman alphabet, as in English; -- contrasted with phonetic spelling.

Difficulty: 16.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4090 At the time, I was working on my own small reference dictionary of the Marathi language, based on phonetic spellings of the words I heard every day in the village.
923 wheedled prev next
Definition  (wheedle)
1. To entice by soft words; to cajole; to flatter; to coax. The unlucky art of wheedling fools. Dryden. And wheedle a world that loves him not. Tennyson. 2. To grain, or get away, by flattery. A deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedled out of her. Congreve. To flatter; to coax; to cajole. "cajole": To deceive with flattery or fair words; to wheedle. I am not about to cajole or flatter you into a reception of my views. F. W. Robertson. Syn. -- To flatter; wheedle; delude; coax; entrap.

Difficulty: 16.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7072 ‘Oh, pleeeeeeese,’ Prabaker wheedled.
924 muzzled prev next

Difficulty: 16.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9551 The huge muzzled bear was chained at his neck and on his paws, and the chains passed through a metal grille at one of the windows.
925 hurtle prev next
Definition
1. To meet with violence or shock; to clash; to jostle. Together hurtled both their steeds. Fairfax. 2. To move rapidly; to wheel or rush suddenly or with violence; to whirl round rapidly; to skirmish. Now hurtling round, advantage for to take. Spenser. Down the hurtling cataract of the ages. R. L. Stevenson. 3. To make a threatening sound, like the clash of arms; to make a sound as of confused clashing or confusion; to resound. The noise of battle hurtled in the air. Shak. The earthquake sound Hurtling 'death the solid ground. Mrs. Browning. 1. To move with violence or impetuosity; to whirl; to brandish. [Obs.] His harmful club he gan to hurtle high. Spenser. 2. To push; to jostle; to hurl. And he hurtleth with his horse adown. Chaucer. "brandish": 1. To move or wave, as a weapon; to raise and move in various directions; to shake or flourish. The quivering lance which he brandished bright. Drake. 2. To play with; to flourish; as, to brandish syllogisms. A flourish, as with a weapon, whip, etc. "Brandishes of the fan." Tailer. "cataract": 1. A great fall of water over a precipice; a large waterfall. 2. (Surg.) An opacity of the crystalline lens, or of its capsule, which prevents the passage of the rays of light and impairs or destroys the sight. 3. (Mach.) A kind of hydraulic brake for regulating the action of pumping engines and other machines; -- sometimes called dashpot. "resound": 1. To sound loudly; as, his voice resounded far. 2. To be filled with sound; to ring; as, the woods resound with song. 3. To be echoed; to be sent back, as sound. "Common fame . . . resounds back to them again." South. 4. To be mentioned much and loudly. Milton. 5. To echo or reverberate; to be resonant; as, the earth resounded with his praise. 1. To throw back, or return, the sound of; to echo; to reverberate. Albion's cliffs resound the rurPope. 2. To praise or celebrate with the voice, or the sound of instruments; to extol with sounds; to spread the fame of. The man for wisdom's various arts renowned, Long exercised in woes, O muse, resound. Pope. Syn. -- To echo; reëcho; reverberate; sound. Return of sound; echo. Beaumont. "adown": From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [Archaic] "Thrice did she sink adown." Spenser. Down. [Archaic & Poetic] Her hair adown her shoulders loosely lay displayed. Prior. "jostle": To run against and shake; to push out of the way; to elbow; to hustle; to disturb by crowding; to crowd against. "Bullies jostled him." Macaulay. Systems of movement, physical, intellectual, and moral, which are perpetually jostling each other. I. Taylor. To push; to crowd; to hustle. None jostle with him for the wall. Lamb. A conflict by collisions; a crowding or bumping together; interference. The jostle of South African nationalities and civilization. The Nation. "impetuosity": 1. The condition or quality of being impetuous; fury; violence. 2. Vehemence, or furiousnes of temper. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20301 Closely following Vikram’s lead, I flew at steep inclines and conquered them to plummet over the summit, and hurtle downward into curving loops of wind and scattered shrubs.
926 profusion prev next
Definition
1. The act of one who is profuse; a lavishing or pouring out without sting. Thy vast profusion to the factious nobles Rowe. 2. Abundance; exuberant plenty; lavish supply; as, a profusion of commodities. Addison. "factious": 1. Given to faction; addicted to form parties and raise dissensions, in opposition to government or the common good; turbulent; seditious; prone to clamor against public measures or men; -- said of persons. Factious for the house of Lancaster. Shak. 2. Pertaining to faction; proceeding from faction; indicating, or characterized by, faction; -- said of acts or expressions; as, factious quarrels. Headlong zeal or factious fury. Burke. -- Fac"tious*ly, adv. -- Fac"tious-ness, n. "profuse": 1. Pouring forth with fullness or exuberance; bountiful; exceedingly liberal; giving without stint; as, a profuse government; profuse hospitality. A green, shady bank, profuse of flowers. Milton. 2. Superabundant; excessive; prodigal; lavish; as, profuse expenditure. "Profuse ornament." Kames. Syn. -- Lavish; exuberant; bountiful; prodigal; extravagant. -- Profuse, Lavish, Prodigal. Profuse denotes pouring out (as money, etc.) with great fullness or freeness; as, profuse in his expenditures, thanks, promises, etc. Lavish is stronger, implying unnecessary or wasteful excess; as, lavish of his bounties, favors, praises, etc. Prodigal is stronger still, denoting unmeasured or reckless profusion; as, prodigal of one's strength, life, or blood, to secure some object. Dryden. To pour out; to give or spend liberally; to lavish; to squander. [Obs.] Chapman.

Difficulty: 16.85
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27311 Sections of the sculpted and moulded forms—heads and limbs and bodies with gorgeously rounded bellies—rested on the floor of the hut amid a venerable profusion of plaques, reliefs, statues, and other pieces.
927 whirr prev next

Difficulty: 16.84
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2272 Traffic noise faded, ceased, and was replaced by street sound—a class of children reciting verses from the Koran in a little courtyard; the whirr and scrape of stone on stone, as women ground spices in doorways; and the whining optimism of cries from knife sharpeners, mattress-fluffers, stove repairers, and other hawkers.
928 precipitous prev next
Definition
1. Steep, like a precipice; as, a precipitous cliff or mountain. 2. Headlong; as, precipitous fall. 3. Hasty; rash; quick; sudden; precipitate; as, precipitous attempts. Sir T. Browne. "Marian's low, precipitous `Hush!'" Mrs. Browning. -- Pre*cip"i*tous*ly, adv. -- Pre*cip"i*tous*ness, n. "precipitate": 1. Overhasty; rash; as, the king was too precipitate in declaring war. Clarendon. 2. Lacking due deliberation or care; hurried; said or done before the time; as, a precipitate measure. "The rapidity of our too precipitate course." Landor. 3. Falling, flowing, or rushing, with steep descent; headlong. Precipitate the furious torrent flows. Prior. 4. Ending quickly in death; brief and fatal; as, a precipitate case of disease. [Obs.] Arbuthnot. An insoluble substance separated from a solution in a concrete state by the action of some reagent added to the solution, or of some force, such as heat or cold. The precipitate may fall to the bottom (whence the name), may be diffused through the solution, or may float at or near the surface. Red precipitate (Old. Chem), mercuric oxide (HgO) a heavy red crystalline powder obtained by heating mercuric nitrate, or by heating mercury in the air. Prepared in the latter manner, it was the precipitate per se of the alchemists. -- White precipitate (Old Chem.) (a) A heavy white amorphous powder (NH2.HgCl) obtained by adding ammonia to a solution of mercuric chloride or corrosive sublimate; -- formerly called also infusible white precipitate, and now amido-mercuric chloride. (b) A white crystalline substance obtained by adding a solution of corrosive sublimate to a solution of sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride); -- formerly called also fusible white precipitate. 1. To throw headlong; to cast down from a precipice or height. She and her horse had been precipitated to the pebbled region of the river. W. Irving. 2. To urge or press on with eager haste or violence; to cause to happen, or come to a crisis, suddenly or too soon; as, precipitate a journey, or a conflict. Back to his sight precipitates her steps. Glover. If they be daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. Bacon. 3. (Chem.) To separate from a solution, or other medium, in the form of a precipitate; as, water precipitates camphor when in solution with alcohol. The light vapor of the preceding evening had been precipitated by the cold. W. Irving. 1. To dash or fall headlong. [R.] So many fathom down precipitating. Shak. 2. To hasten without preparation. [R.] 3. (Chem.) To separate from a solution as a precipitate. See Precipitate, n.

Difficulty: 16.84
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3366 Given the narrow road, the precipitous fall on the low side, the frequent columns of people and animals that lined the high side, the titanic mass of our swaying ark of a bus, and the vertiginous hostility with which the driver negotiated every curve, the speed was sufficient to relieve me of the need to sleep or relax on the ride.
929 sheepish prev next
Definition
1. Of or pertaining to sheep. [Obs.] 2. Like a sheep; bashful; over-modest; meanly or foolishly diffident; timorous to excess. Wanting change of company, he will, when he comes abroad, be a sheepish or conceited creature. Locke. -- Sheep"ish*ly, adv. -- Sheep"ish*ness, n. "timorous": 1. Fearful of danger; timid; deficient in courage. Shak. 2. Indicating, or caused by, fear; as, timorous doubts. "The timorous apostasy of chuchmen." Milman. -- Tim"or*ous*ly, adv. -- Tim"or*ous*ness, n. "diffident": 1. Wanting confidence in others; distrustful. [Archaic] You were always extremely diffident of their success. Melmoth. 2. Wanting confidence in one's self; distrustful of one's own powers; not self-reliant; timid; modest; bashful; characterized by modest reserve. The diffident maidens, Folding their hands in prayer. Longfellow. Syn. -- Distrustful; suspicious; hesitating; doubtful; modest; bashful; lowly; reserved. "meanly": Moderately. [Obs.] A man meanly learned himself, but not meanly affectioned to set forward learning in others. Ascham. In a mean manner; unworthily; basely; poorly; ungenerously. While the heaven-born child All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies. Milton. Would you meanly thus rely On power you know I must obey Prior. We can not bear to have others think meanly of them [our kindred]. I. Watts.

Difficulty: 16.84
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9335 The sheepish, trusting smile that the young man offered me was no help.
930 exaltation prev next
Definition
1. The act of exalting or raising high; also, the state of being exalted; elevation. Wondering at my flight, and change To this high exaltation. Milton. 2. (Alchem.) The refinement or subtilization of a body, or the increasing of its virtue or principal property. 3. (Astrol.) That place of a planet in the zodiac in which it was supposed to exert its strongest influence. "subtilization": 1. The act of making subtile. 2. (Old Chem.) The operation of making so volatile as to rise in steam or vapor. 3. Refinement; subtlety; extreme attenuation.

Difficulty: 16.84
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23785 And I looked at the men, the brave and beautiful men beside me, running into the guns, and God help me for thinking it, and God forgive me for saying it, but it was glorious, it was glorious, if glory is a magnificent and raptured exaltation.
931 cretinous prev next
Definition
Having the characteristics of a cretin. "Cretinous stupefaction." Ruskin. "stupefaction": The act of stupefying, or the state of being stupefied. [Written also stupifaction.] Resistance of the dictates of conscience brings a hardness and stupefaction upon it. South.

Difficulty: 16.83
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13024 His slack-lipped, cretinous puzzlement made me laugh the harder.
932 wend prev next
Definition
p. p. of Wene. Chaucer. 1. To go; to pass; to betake one's self. "To Canterbury they wend." Chaucer. To Athens shall the lovers wend. Shak. 2. To turn round. [Obs.] Sir W. Raleigh. To direct; to betake;- used chiefly in the phrase to wend one's way. Also used reflexively. "Great voyages to wend." Surrey. A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit. [Obs.] Burrill. "betake": 1. To take or seize. [Obs.] Spenser. 2. To have recourse to; to apply; to resort; to go; -- with a reflexive pronoun. They betook themselves to treaty and submission. Burke. The rest, in imitation, to like arms Betook them. Milton. Whither shall I betake me, where subsist Milton. 3. To commend or intrust to; to commit to. [Obs.] "perambulation": 1. The act of perambulating; traversing. Bacon. 2. An annual survey of boundaries, as of town, a parish, a forest, etc. 3. A district within which one is authorized to make a tour of inspection. "The . . . bounds of his own perambulation." [Obs.] Holyday. "wene": To ween. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Difficulty: 16.83
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27886 From a low-walled courtyard on the white marble island of Haji Ali Mosque, I watched pilgrims and pious local residents wend and weave, leaving the shrine for the shore along the flat stone path.
933 soll prev next

Difficulty: 16.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1272 ‘And don’t you have any wie soll ich das sagen, any program?
934 fantasising prev next

Difficulty: 16.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11648 He was a man she’d liked, a handsome man she’d found herself fantasising about from time to time.
935 riffled prev next
Definition  (riffle)
A trough or sluice having cleats, grooves, or steps across the bottom for holding quicksilver and catching particles of gold when auriferous earth is washed; also, one of the cleats, grooves, or steps in such a trough. Also called ripple. "auriferous": Gold-bearing; containing or producing gold. Whence many a bursting stream auriferous plays. Thomson. ~= pyrites, iron pyrites (iron disulphide), containing some gold disseminated through it. "quicksilver": The metal mercury; -- so called from its resemblance to liquid silver. Quicksilver horizon, a mercurial artificial horizon. See under Horizon. -- Quicksilver water, a solution of mercury nitrate used in artificial silvering; quick water.

Difficulty: 16.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12127 A desultory breeze riffled the gauze curtains, and I saw a soft yellow light, a candle, glowing within.
936 vehement prev next
Definition
1. Acting with great force; furious; violent; impetuous; forcible; mighty; as, vehement wind; a vehement torrent; a vehement fire or heat. 2. Very ardent; very eager or urgent; very fervent; passionate; as, a vehement affection or passion. "Vehement instigation." Shak. "Vehement desire." Milton. Syn. -- Furious; violent; raging; impetuous; passionate; ardent; eager; hot; fervid; burning. "fervid": 1. Very hot; burning; boiling. The mounted sun Shot down direct his fervid rays. Milton. 2. Ardent; vehement; zealous. The fervid wishes, holy fires. Parnell. -- Fer"vid*ly, adv. -- Fer"vid*ness, n. "forcible": 1. Possessing force; characterized by force, efficiency, or energy; powerful; efficacious; impressive; influential. How forcible are right words! Job. vi. 2 Sweet smells are most forcible in dry substances, when broken. Bacon. But I have reasons strong and forcible. Shak. That punishment which hath been sometimes forcible to bridle sin. Hooker. He is at once elegant and sublime, forcible and ornamented. Lowth (Transl. ) 2. Violent; impetuous. Like mingled streams, more forcible when joined. Prior. 3. Using force against opposition or resistance; obtained by compulsion; effected by force; as, forcible entry or abduction. In embraces of King James . . . forcible and unjust. Swift. Forcible entry and detainer (Law), the entering upon and taking and withholding of land and tenements by actual force and violence, and with a strong hand, to the hindrance of the person having the right to enter. Syn. -- Violent; powerful; strong; energetic; mighty; potent; weighty; impressive; cogent; influential. "instigation": The act of instigating, or the state of being instigated; incitement; esp. to evil or wickedness. The baseness and villainy that . . . the instigation of the devil could bring the sons of men to. South.

Difficulty: 16.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15652 Her manner was so vehement, and the stand she was taking so inflexible and unexpected, that I was too surprised to be angry.
937 riffle prev next
Definition
A trough or sluice having cleats, grooves, or steps across the bottom for holding quicksilver and catching particles of gold when auriferous earth is washed; also, one of the cleats, grooves, or steps in such a trough. Also called ripple. "auriferous": Gold-bearing; containing or producing gold. Whence many a bursting stream auriferous plays. Thomson. ~= pyrites, iron pyrites (iron disulphide), containing some gold disseminated through it. "quicksilver": The metal mercury; -- so called from its resemblance to liquid silver. Quicksilver horizon, a mercurial artificial horizon. See under Horizon. -- Quicksilver water, a solution of mercury nitrate used in artificial silvering; quick water.

Difficulty: 16.82
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25587 We were quiet for a while, listening to the noises that pushed their way into the room with a breeze that caused the curtains to riffle, swell, and fall.
938 seinen prev next

Difficulty: 16.81
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1238 And later, when I went to the bathroom for a little sniff of cokes, I came back to see daβ er seinen Schwanz ganz tief in einer meiner Schuhe hat!
939 undergarment prev next

Difficulty: 16.81
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11390 It was a measure of their despondency and their fear that dread had banished modesty, and they allowed the girl to be examined in a flimsy undergarment that revealed her shoulders and most of one breast.
940 hatchets prev next

Difficulty: 16.81
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21452 There were hatchets and thick-bladed knives and sewing kits.
941 mela prev next

Difficulty: 16.81
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27256 ‘I myself was in the mela at Chowpatty.
942 wonderment prev next
Definition
Surprise; astonishment; a wonderful appearance; a wonder. Bacon. All the common sights they view, Their wonderment engage. Sir W. Scott.

Difficulty: 16.80
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3669 Prabaker was at my side, and although he smiled and enjoyed the celebrity that the moment gave him, he too was awed by the press of attention and the surrounding wall of wonderment and expectation.
943 hallucinatory prev next
Definition
Partaking of, or tending to produce, hallucination.

Difficulty: 16.80
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8882 It was so potent, and came with such force from the water-pipe, that almost at once my bloodshot eyes failed in focus and I experienced a mild, hallucinatory effect: the blurring at the edges of other people’s faces, and a minuscule time-delay in their movements.
944 blest prev next
Definition
Blessed. "This patriarch blest." Milton. White these blest sounds my ravished ear assail. Trumbull. "assail": 1. To attack with violence, or in a vehement and hostile manner; to assault; to molest; as, to assail a man with blows; to assail a city with artillery. No rude noise mine ears assailing. Cowper. No storm can now assail The charm he wears within. Keble. 2. To encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the like. The thorny wilds the woodmen fierce assail. Pope. 3. To attack morally, or with a view to produce changes in the feelings, character, conduct, existing usages, institutions; to attack by words, hostile influence, etc.; as, to assail one with appeals, arguments, abuse, ridicule, and the like. The papal authority . . . assailed. Hallam. They assailed him with keen invective; they assailed him with still keener irony. Macaulay. Syn. -- To attack; assault; invade; encounter; fall upon. See Attack.

Difficulty: 16.80
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10948 A few minutes later, I passed the World Trade Centre and entered the compound of the slum, remembering, as I always did, the first time I entered those blest and tormented acres.
945 colloquial prev next
Definition
Pertaining to, or used in, conversation, esp. common and familiar conversation; conversational; hence, unstudied; informal; as, colloquial intercourse; colloquial phrases; a colloquial style. -- Col*lo"qui*al*ly, adv. His [Johnson's] colloquial talents were, indeed, of the highest order. Macaulay. "unstudied": 1. Not studied; not acquired by study; unlabored; natural. 2. Not skilled; unversed; -- followed by in. 3. Not spent in study. [Obs.] "To cloak the defects of their unstudied years." Milton.

Difficulty: 16.80
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13368 Finally, I asked him in rough, colloquial Hindi if he had any Indian movie songs in his cab.
946 disquietingly prev next
Definition  (disquiet)
Deprived of quiet; impatient; restless; uneasy. [R.] Shak. Want of quiet; want of tranquility in body or mind; uneasiness; restlessness; disturbance; anxiety. Swift. To render unquiet; to deprive of peace, rest, or tranquility; to make uneasy or restless; to disturb. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me Ps. xlii. 11. As quiet as these disquieted times will permit. Sir W. Scott. Syn. -- To harass; disturb; vex; fret; excite; agitate. "unquiet": To disquiet. [Obs.] Ld. Herbert. Not quiet; restless; uneasy; agitated; disturbed. -- Un*qui"et*ly, adv. -- Un*qui"et*ness, n. "uneasiness": 1. The quality or state of being uneasy; restlessness; disquietude; anxiety. 2. The quality of making uneasy; discomfort; as, the uneasiness of the road. [Obs.] Bp. Burnet.

Difficulty: 16.80
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14056 That action sprayed, through what appeared to be a valve in the navel of the goddess, a potent and disquietingly industrial mix of chemical perfumes onto the shirt and trousers of his passenger.
947 ghat prev next
Definition
1. A pass through a mountain. [India] J. D. Hooker. 2. A range of mountains. Balfour (Cyc. of Ind. ). 3. Stairs descending to a river; a landing place; a wharf. [India] Malcom.

Difficulty: 16.80
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19408 I joined the others to carry Prabaker’s body to the ghat, the burning place.
948 stilted prev next
Definition
Elevated as if on stilts; hence, pompous; bombastic; as, a stilted style; stilted declamation. Stilted arch (Arch.), an arch in which the springing line is some distance above the impost, the space between being occupied by a vertical member, molded or ornamented, as a continuation of the archivolt, intrados, etc. "bombastic": Characterized by bombast; highsounding; inflated. -- Bom*bas"tic*al*ly, adv. A theatrical, bombastic, windy phraseology. Burke. Syn. -- Turgid; tumid; pompous; grandiloquent. "impost": 1. That which is imposed or levied; a tax, tribute, or duty; especially, a duty or tax laid by goverment on goods imported into a country. Even the ship money . . . Johnson could not pronounce to have been an unconstitutional impost. Macaulay. 2. (Arch.) The top member of a pillar, pier, wall, etc., upon which the weight of an arch rests. Note: The impost is called continuous, if the moldings of the arch or architrave run down the jamb or pier without a break. Syn. -- Tribute; excise; custom; duty; tax. "declamation": 1. The act or art of declaiming; rhetorical delivery; haranguing; loud speaking in public; especially, the public recitation of speeches as an exercise in schools and colleges; as, the practice declamation by students. The public listened with little emotion, but with much civility, to five acts of monotonous declamation. Macaulay. 2. A set or harangue; declamatory discourse. 3. Pretentious rhetorical display, with more sound than sense; as, mere declamation. "intrados": The interior curve of an arch; esp., the inner or lower curved face of the whole body of voussoirs taken together. See Extrados. "archivolt": (a) The architectural member surrounding the curved opening of an arch, corresponding to the architrave in the case of a square opening. (b) More commonly, the molding or other ornaments with which the wall face of the voussoirs of an arch is charged.

Difficulty: 16.79
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2218 It was, instead, the too-sudden collapse of my stilted complacencies.
949 pilferers prev next
Definition  (pilfer)
To steal in small quantities, or articles of small value; to practice petty theft. To take by petty theft; to filch; to steal little by little. And not a year but pilfers as he goes Some youthful grace that age would gladly keep. Cowper. "filch": To steal or take privily (commonly, that which is of little value); to pilfer. Fain would they filch that little food away. Dryden. But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.79
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6531 One notable expedition by the tiny pilferers produced a huge tarpaulin that, from its shape, had clearly been the camouflage cover for a battle tank.
950 pilferer prev next
Definition
One who pilfers; a petty thief.

Difficulty: 16.79
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7177 With no locks on any of the doors, and no secret places for any of us to hide things, the monkeys were in a pilferer’s paradise.
951 pilfer prev next
Definition
To steal in small quantities, or articles of small value; to practice petty theft. To take by petty theft; to filch; to steal little by little. And not a year but pilfers as he goes Some youthful grace that age would gladly keep. Cowper. "filch": To steal or take privily (commonly, that which is of little value); to pilfer. Fain would they filch that little food away. Dryden. But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.79
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11016 Kumar, the chai shop owner, fought a running guerrilla war with his customers, who tried to pilfer his bricks and planks for their own houses.
952 onerous prev next
Definition
Burdensome; oppressive. "Too onerous a solicitude." I. Taylor. Onerous cause (Scots Law), a good and legal consideration; -- opposed to gratuitous. "solicitude": The state of being solicitous; uneasiness of mind occasioned by fear of evil or desire good; anxiety. The many cares and great labors of worldly men, their solicitude and outward shows. Sir W. Raleigh. The mother looked at her with fond solicitude. G. W. Cable. Syn. -- Carefulness; concern; anxiety. See Care. "burdensome": Grievous to be borne; causing uneasiness or fatigue; oppressive. The debt immense of endless gratitude So burdensome. Milton. Syn. -- Heavy; weighty; cumbersome; onerous; grievous; oppressive; troublesome. -- Bur"den*some*ly, adv. -- Bur"den*some*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.79
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11494 They were all huge undertakings and onerous responsibilities, but no man or woman at the gathering hesitated in accepting them.
953 fount prev next
Definition
A font. A fountain.

Difficulty: 16.79
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20663 He excused himself, and walked to the bathing fount.
954 naya prev next

Difficulty: 16.78
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9250 ‘Hospital naya!’ Ameer whined.
955 dirhams prev next

Difficulty: 16.78
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13658 The black marketeers were happy because a steady stream of dollars, Deutschmarks, riyals, and dirhams flowed into the river of demand created by Indian business travellers.
956 confections prev next
Definition  (confection)
1. A composition of different materials. [Obs.] A new confection of mold. Bacon. 2. A preparation of fruits or roots, etc., with sugar; a sweetmeat. Certain confections . . . are like to candied conserves, and are made of sugar and lemons. Bacon. 3. A composition of drugs. Shak. 4. (Med.) A soft solid made by incorporating a medicinal substance or substances with sugar, sirup, or honey. Note: The pharmacopoeias formerly made a distinction between conserves (made of fresh vegetable substances and sugar) and electuaries (medicinal substances combined with sirup or honey), but the distinction is now abandoned and all are called confections. "sirup": 1. A thick and viscid liquid made from the juice of fruits, herbs, etc., boiled with sugar. 2. A thick and viscid saccharine solution of superior quality (as sugarhouse sirup or molasses, maple sirup); specifically, in pharmacy and often in cookery, a saturated solution of sugar and water (simple sirup), or such a solution flavored or medicated. Lucent sirups tinct with cinnamon. Keats. Mixing sirup. See the Note under Dextrose. "sweetmeat": 1. Fruit preserved with sugar, as peaches, pears, melons, nuts, orange peel, etc.; -- usually in the plural; a confect; a confection. 2. The paint used in making patent leather. 3. (Zoöl.) A boat shell (Crepidula fornicata) of the American coast. [Local, U.S.]

Difficulty: 16.78
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20494 The Firni House in Bombay’s Dongri area, near Khaderbhai’s house, was justly famous for its delicious faloodah drinks, but they were insipid when compared to the fabulous confections served at Karachi’s Faloodah House.
957 winsomely prev next
Definition  (winsome)
1. Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. Misled by ill example, and a winsome nature. Jeffrey. 2. Causing joy or pleasure; gladsome; pleasant. Still plotting how their hungry ear That winsome voice again might hear. Emerson. "gladsome": 1. Pleased; joyful; cheerful. 2. Causing joy, pleasure, or cheerfulness; having the appearance of gayety; pleasing. Of opening heaven they sung, and gladsome day. Prior. -- Glad"some*ly, adv. -- Glad"some*ness, n. Hours of perfect gladsomeness. Wordsworth.

Difficulty: 16.77
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1316 ‘I have a job,’ Ulla announced, pouting winsomely.
958 cowherd prev next
Definition
One whose occupation is to tend cows.

Difficulty: 16.77
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4098 He translated what he’d told me for the crowd, and they pushed Satish, a heavy-set cowherd, to the front of the group.
959 aboveground prev next

Difficulty: 16.77
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12671 The rectangular bathing area, something like an empty aboveground pool or a dry stone pond, had a huge cast-iron tank at one end.
960 bristled prev next
Definition  (bristle)
1. A short, stiff, coarse hair, as on the back of swine. 2. (Bot.) A stiff, sharp, roundish hair. Gray. 1. To erect the bristles of; to cause to stand up, as the bristles of an angry hog; -- sometimes with up. Now for the bare-picked bone of majesty Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest. Shak. Boy, bristle thy courage up. Shak. 2. To fix a bristle to; as, to bristle a thread. 1. To rise or stand erect, like bristles. His hair did bristle upon his head. Sir W. Scott. 2. To appear as if covered with bristles; to have standing, thick and erect, like bristles. The hill of La Haye Sainte bristling with ten thousand bayonets. Thackeray. Ports bristling with thousands of masts. Macaulay. 3. To show deflance or indignation. To bristle up, to show anger or deflance. "roundish": Somewhat round; as, a roundish seed; a roundish figure. -- Round"ish*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.76
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1106 I was simply making conversation, trying to keep her near me, talking to me, and the sudden wariness that bristled in the single word of her question surprised me.
961 stonework prev next
Definition
Work or wall consisting of stone; mason's work of stone. Mortimer.

Difficulty: 16.76
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4758 Patches of concrete and stonework showed in some places where the old floors and foundations of the original buildings, cleared from the site years before, remained intact.
962 italic prev next
Definition
1. Relating to Italy or to its people. 2. Applied especially to a kind of type in which the letters do not stand upright, but slope toward the right; -- so called because dedicated to the States of Italy by the inventor, Aldus Manutius, about the year 1500. Italic languages, the group or family of languages of ancient Italy. -- Italic order (Arch.), the composite order. See Composite. -- Italic school, a term given to the Pythagorean and Eleatic philosophers, from the country where their doctrines were first promulgated. -- Italic version. See Itala. An Italic letter, character, or type (see Italic, a., 2.); -- often in the plural; as, the Italics are the author's. Italic letters are used to distinguish words for emphasis, importance, antithesis, etc. Also, collectively, Italic letters. "antithesis": 1. (Rhet.) An opposition or contrast of words or sentiments occurring in the same sentence; as, "The prodigal robs his heir; the miser robs himself." "He had covertly shot at Cromwell; he how openly aimed at the Queen." 2. The second of two clauses forming an antithesis. 3. Opposition; contrast. "eleatic": Of or pertaining to a certain school of Greek philosophers who taught that the only certain science is that which owes nothing to the senses, and all to the reason. -- n. A philosopher of the Eleatic school. "pythagorean": Of or pertaining to Pythagoras (a Greek philosopher, born about 582 b. c.), or his philosophy. The central thought of the Pythagorean philosophy is the idea of number, the recognition of the numerical and mathematical relations of things. Encyc. Brit. Pythagorean proposition (Geom.), the theorem that the square described upon the hypothenuse of a plane right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares described upon the other two sides. -- Pythagorean system (Astron.), the commonly received system of astronomy, first taught by Pythagoras, and afterward revived by Copernicus, whence it is also called the Copernican system. -- Pythagorean letter. See Y. A follower of Pythagoras; one of the school of philosophers founded by Pythagoras. "itala": An early Latin version of the Scriptures (the Old Testament was translated from the Septuagint, and was also called the Italic version).

Difficulty: 16.76
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8173 The cards were made of pearl-white, textured, linen paper, and the words were embossed in liquid black italic.
963 ramshackle prev next
Definition
Loose; disjointed; falling to pieces; out of repair. There came . . . my lord the cardinal, in his ramshackle coach. Thackeray. To search or ransack; to rummage. [Prov. Eng.] "ransack": 1. To search thoroughly; to search every place or part of; as, to ransack a house. To ransack every corner of their . . . hearts. South. 2. To plunder; to pillage completely. Their vow is made To ransack Troy. Shak. 3. To violate; to ravish; to defiour. [Obs.] Rich spoil of ransacked chastity. Spenser. To make a thorough search. To ransack in the tas [heap] of bodies dead. Chaucer. The act of ransacking, or state of being ransacked; pillage. [R.] Even your father's house Shall not be free fromransack. J. Webster. "disjointed": Separated at the joints; disconnected; incoherent. -- Dis*joint"ed*ly, adv. -- Dis*joint"ed*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.76
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9193 Prabaker glanced along the dark lane of ramshackle huts to the hovering glow-worm of Joseph’s lamp.
964 bristly prev next
Definition
THick set with bristles, or with hairs resembling bristles; rough. The leaves of the black mulberry are somewhat bristly. Bacon.

Difficulty: 16.76
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9441 He was a tall man with a prominent paunch and a large, expressively bristly moustache, tinged with grey.
965 undernourished prev next

Difficulty: 16.75
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1221 The dark, brooding, undernourished young man was Modena, a dour and taciturn Spaniard who did black-market business with French, Italian, and African tourists.
966 skyward prev next
Definition
Toward the sky.

Difficulty: 16.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4808 Then, several hundred metres away, a gorgeous plume of orange flames erupted skyward.
967 gladdened prev next
Definition  (gladden)
To make glad; to cheer; to please; to gratify; to rejoice; to exhilarate. A secret pleasure gladdened all that saw him. Addison. To be or become glad; to rejoice. The vast Pacific gladdens with the freight. Wordsworth. "exhilarate": To make merry or jolly; to enliven; to animate; to gladden greatly; to cheer; as, good news exhilarates the mind; wine exhilarates a man. To become joyous. [R.] Bacon. "gratify": 1. To please; to give pleasure to; to satisfy; to soothe; to indulge; as, to gratify the taste, the appetite, the senses, the desires, the mind, etc. For who would die to gratify a foe Dryden. 2. To requite; to recompense. [Obs.] It remains . . . To gratify his noble service. Shak. Syn. -- To indulge; humor please; delight; requite; recompense. -- To Gratify, Indulge, Humor. Gratify, is the generic term, and has reference simply to the pleasure communicated. To indulge a person implies that we concede something to his wishes or his weaknesses which he could not claim, and which had better, perhaps, be spared. To humor is to adapt ourselves to the varying moods, and, perhaps, caprices, of others. We gratify a child by showing him the sights of a large city; we indulge him in some extra expense on such an occasion; we humor him when he is tired and exacting.

Difficulty: 16.74
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27331 The promised pair was still too young to marry, but their betrothal gave them both joy, and was a commitment to the future that gladdened Jeetendra’s heart.
968 fiefdoms prev next

Difficulty: 16.73
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5470 He was also one of the lords of Bombay’s mafia—one of the founders of the council system that had divided Bombay into fiefdoms ruled by separate councils of mafia dons.
969 rigger prev next
Definition
1. One who rigs or dresses; one whose occupation is to fit the rigging of a ship. 2. A cylindrical pulley or drum in machinery. [R.] "cylindrical": Having the form of a cylinder, or of a section of its convex surface; partaking of the properties of the cylinder. Cylindrical lens, a lens having one, or more than one, cylindrical surface. -- Cylindric, or Cylindrical, surface (Geom.), a surface described by a straight line that moves according to any law, but so as to be constantly parallel to a given line. -- Cylindrical vault. (Arch.) See under Vault, n.

Difficulty: 16.73
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7638 He worked as a rigger on the site.
970 fiefdom prev next

Difficulty: 16.73
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17468 It was the personal fiefdom of the conspicuously insane dictator Mobutu, and a percentage of the profit from every crime in the kingdom slithered into his pocket.
971 abbreviated prev next
Definition
Shortened; relatively short; abbreviate. "abbreviate": 1. To make briefer; to shorten; to abridge; to reduce by contraction or omission, especially of words written or spoken. It is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off. Bacon. 2. (Math.) To reduce to lower terms, as a fraction. 1. Abbreviated; abridged; shortened. [R.] "The abbreviate form." Earle. 2. (Biol.) Having one part relatively shorter than another or than the ordinary type. An abridgment. [Obs.] Elyot.

Difficulty: 16.73
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20336 It was abbreviated, to be sure, but that was because the superfluous had been hacked from it, and what remained was a pure and precise language of his own—something more than slogans and less than proverbs.
972 trestles prev next
Definition  (trestle)
1. A movable frame or support for anything, as scaffolding, consisting of three or four legs secured to a top piece, and forming a sort of stool or horse, used by carpenters, masons, and other workmen; also, a kind of framework of strong posts or piles, and crossbeams, for supporting a bridge, the track of a railway, or the like. 2. The frame of a table. Trestle board, a board used by architects, draughtsmen, and the like, for drawing designs upon; -- so called because commonly supported by trestles. -- Trestle bridge. See under Bridge, n. "movable": 1. Capable of being moved, lifted, carried, drawn, turned, or conveyed, or in any way made to change place or posture; susceptible of motion; not fixed or stationary; as, a movable steam engine. 2. Changing from one time to another; as, movable feasts, i. e., church festivals, the date of which varies from year to year. Movable letter (Heb. Gram.), a letter that is pronounced, as opposed to one that is quiescent. 1. An article of wares or goods; a commodity; a piece of property not fixed, or not a part of real estate; generally, in the plural, goods; wares; furniture. Furnished with the most rich and princely movables. Evelyn. 2. (Rom. Law) Property not attached to the soil. Note: The word is not convertible with personal property, since rents and similar incidents of the soil which are personal property by our law are immovables by the Roman law. Wharton.

Difficulty: 16.73
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27309 He worked at a long table made from thick builder’s planks, lashed together and resting on two carpenter’s trestles.
973 mynah prev next

Difficulty: 16.72
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13092 The silence that followed his question was suddenly disturbed by the morning song of mynah birds.
974 unendurably prev next
Definition  (endurable)
Capable of being endured or borne; sufferable. Macaulay. -- En*dur"a*ble*ness, n. "sufferable": 1. Able to suffer or endure; patient. [Obs.] "Ye must be sufferable." Chaucer. 2. That may be suffered, tolerated, or permitted; allowable; tolerable. -- Suf"fer*a*ble*ness, n. -- Suf"fer*a*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.72
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24074 We go now?—became unendurably annoying.
975 conical prev next
Definition
1. Having the form of, or resembling, a geometrical cone; round and tapering to a point, or gradually lessening in circumference; as, a conic or conical figure; a conical vessel. 2. Of or pertaining to a cone; as, conic sections. Conic section (Geom.), a curved line formed by the intersection of the surface of a right cone and a plane. The conic sections are the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola. The right lines and the circle which result from certain positions of the plane are sometimes, though not generally included. -- Conic sections, that branch of geometry which treats of the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola. -- Conical pendulum. See Pendulum. -- Conical projection, a method of delineating the surface of a sphere upon a plane surface as if projected upon the surface of a cone; -- much used by makers of maps in Europe. -- Conical surface (Geom.), a surface described by a right line moving along any curve and always passing through a fixed point that is not in the plane of that curve. "ellipse": 1. (Geom.) An oval or oblong figure, bounded by a regular curve, which corresponds to an oblique projection of a circle, or an oblique section of a cone through its opposite sides. The greatest diameter of the ellipse is the major axis, and the least diameter is the minor axis. See Conic section, under Conic, and cf. Focus. 2. (Gram.) Omission. See Ellipsis. 3. The elliptical orbit of a planet. The Sun flies forward to his brother Sun; The dark Earth follows wheeled in her ellipse. Tennyson. "conic": 1. Having the form of, or resembling, a geometrical cone; round and tapering to a point, or gradually lessening in circumference; as, a conic or conical figure; a conical vessel. 2. Of or pertaining to a cone; as, conic sections. Conic section (Geom.), a curved line formed by the intersection of the surface of a right cone and a plane. The conic sections are the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola. The right lines and the circle which result from certain positions of the plane are sometimes, though not generally included. -- Conic sections, that branch of geometry which treats of the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola. -- Conical pendulum. See Pendulum. -- Conical projection, a method of delineating the surface of a sphere upon a plane surface as if projected upon the surface of a cone; -- much used by makers of maps in Europe. -- Conical surface (Geom.), a surface described by a right line moving along any curve and always passing through a fixed point that is not in the plane of that curve. A conic section. "tapering": Becoming gradually smaller toward one end. -- Ta"per*ing*ly, adv. "hyperbola": A curve formed by a section of a cone, when the cutting plane makes a greater angle with the base than the side of the cone makes. It is a plane curve such that the difference of the distances from any point of it to two fixed points, called foci, is equal to a given distance. See Focus. If the cutting plane be produced so as to cut the opposite cone, another curve will be formed, which is also an hyperbola. Both curves are regarded as branches of the same hyperbola. See Illust. of Conic section, and Focus. "geometrical": Pertaining to, or according to the rules or principles of, geometry; determined by geometry; as, a geometrical solution of a problem. Note: Geometric is often used, as opposed to algebraic, to include processes or solutions in which the propositions or principles of geometry are made use of rather than those of algebra. Note: Geometrical is often used in a limited or strictly technical sense, as opposed to mechanical; thus, a construction or solution is geometrical which can be made by ruler and compasses, i. e., by means of right lines and circles. Every construction or solution which requires any other curve, or such motion of a line or circle as would generate any other curve, is not geometrical, but mechanical. By another distinction, a geometrical solution is one obtained by the rules of geometry, or processes of analysis, and hence is exact; while a mechanical solution is one obtained by trial, by actual measurements, with instruments, etc., and is only approximate and empirical. Geometrical curve. Same as Algebraic curve; -- so called because their different points may be constructed by the operations of elementary geometry. -- Geometric lathe, an instrument for engraving bank notes, etc., with complicated patterns of interlacing lines; -- called also cycloidal engine. -- Geometrical pace, a measure of five feet. -- Geometric pen, an instrument for drawing geometric curves, in which the movements of a pen or pencil attached to a revolving arm of ajustable length may be indefinitely varied by changing the toothed wheels which give motion to the arm. -- Geometrical plane (Persp.), the same as Ground plane . -- Geometrical progression, proportion, ratio. See under Progression, Proportion and Ratio. -- Geometrical radius, in gearing, the radius of the pitch circle of a cogwheel. Knight. -- Geometric spider (Zoöl.), one of many species of spiders, which spin a geometrical web. They mostly belong to Epeira and allied genera, as the garden spider. See Garden spider. -- Geometric square, a portable instrument in the form of a square frame for ascertaining distances and heights by measuring angles. -- Geometrical staircase, one in which the stairs are supported by the wall at one end only. -- Geometrical tracery, in architecture and decoration, tracery arranged in geometrical figures. "parabola": (a) A kind of curve; one of the conic sections formed by the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane parallel to one of its sides. It is a curve, any point of which is equally distant from a fixed point, called the focus, and a fixed straight line, called the directrix. See Focus. (b) One of a group of curves defined by the equation y = axn where n is a positive whole number or a positive fraction. For the cubical parabola n = 3; for the semicubical parabola n = Cubical, and Semicubical. The parabolas have infinite branches, but no rectilineal asymptotes.

Difficulty: 16.72
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 28370 I leaned over to pick up a conical shell descending in spirals to a sharp, eroded point.
976 knotty prev next
Definition
1. Full of knots; knotted; having many knots; as, knotty timber; a knotty rope. 2. Hard; rugged; as, a knotty head.[R.] Rewe. 3. Difficult; intricate; perplexed. A knotty point to which we now proceed Pope. "rewe": Tu rue. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Difficulty: 16.71
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20076 Nazeer watched me, his knotty fists balled at his hips.
977 enthralling prev next
Definition  (enthrall)
To hold in thrall; to enslave. See Inthrall. The bars survive the captive they enthrall. Byron. "inthrall": To reduce to bondage or servitude; to make a thrall, slave, vassal, or captive of; to enslave. She soothes, but never can inthrall my mind. Prior. "thrall": 1. A slave; a bondman. Chaucer. Gurth, the born thrall of Cedric. Sir W. Scott. 2. Slavery; bondage; servitude; thraldom. Tennyson. He still in thrall Of all-subdoing sleep. Chapman. 3. A shelf; a stand for barrels, etc. [Prov. Eng.] Of or pertaining to a thrall; in the condition of a thrall; bond; enslaved. [Obs.] Spenser. The fiend that would make you thrall and bond. Chaucer. To enslave. [Obs. or Poetic] Spenser.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2166 That dishevelment combined with his theatrical gestures and persistent shouting to present a spectacle that seemed to be more enthralling, for the crowd of onlookers, than the wreckage of the cars.
978 stewardship prev next
Definition
The office of a steward. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3852 The force of her personality maintained a status in the village that was derived from Kishan’s ownership of land and her stewardship of their small personal fortune.
979 maidan prev next
Definition
In various parts of Asia, an open space, as for military exercises, or for a market place; an open grassy tract; an esplanade. A gallop on the green maidan. M. Crawford. "esplanade": 1. (Fort.) (a) A clear space between a citadel and the nearest houses of the town. Campbell (Mil. Dict. ). (b) The glacis of the counterscarp, or the slope of the parapet of the covered way toward the country. 2. (Hort.) A grass plat; a lawn. Simmonds. 3. Any clear, level space used for public walks or drives; esp., a terrace by the seaside.

Difficulty: 16.70
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27370 As we approached the Back Bay area we passed an open maidan, or field, where a party of wedding musicians dressed in bright red-and-yellow uniforms, complete with tall, plumed hats, was rehearsing its songs.
980 harangued prev next
Definition  (harangue)
A speech addressed to a large public assembly; a popular oration; a loud address a multitude; in a bad sense, a noisy or pompous speech; declamation; ranting. Gray-headed men and grave, with warriors mixed, Assemble, and harangues are heard. Milton. Syn. -- Harangue, Speech, Oration. Speech is generic; an oration is an elaborate and rhetorical speech; an harangue is a vehement appeal to the passions, or a noisy, disputatious address. A general makes an harangue to his troops on the eve of a battle; a demagogue harangues the populace on the subject of their wrongs. To make an harangue; to declaim. To address by an harangue. "declaim": 1. To speak rhetorically; to make a formal speech or oration; to harangue; specifically, to recite a speech, poem, etc., in public as a rhetorical exercise; to practice public speaking; as, the students declaim twice a week. 2. To speak for rhetorical display; to speak pompously, noisily, or theatrically; to make an empty speech; to rehearse trite arguments in debate; to rant. Grenville seized the opportunity to declaim on the repeal of the stamp act. Bancroft. 1. To utter in public; to deliver in a rhetorical or set manner. 2. To defend by declamation; to advocate loudly. [Obs.] "Declaims his cause." South. "oration": An elaborate discourse, delivered in public, treating an important subject in a formal and dignified manner; especially, a discourse having reference to some special occasion, as a funeral, an anniversary, a celebration, or the like; -- distinguished from an argument in court, a popular harangue, a sermon, a lecture, etc.; as, Webster's oration at Bunker Hill. The lord archbishop . . . made a long oration. Bacon. Syn. -- Address; speech. See Harangue. To deliver an oration. Donne. "vehement": 1. Acting with great force; furious; violent; impetuous; forcible; mighty; as, vehement wind; a vehement torrent; a vehement fire or heat. 2. Very ardent; very eager or urgent; very fervent; passionate; as, a vehement affection or passion. "Vehement instigation." Shak. "Vehement desire." Milton. Syn. -- Furious; violent; raging; impetuous; passionate; ardent; eager; hot; fervid; burning. "declamation": 1. The act or art of declaiming; rhetorical delivery; haranguing; loud speaking in public; especially, the public recitation of speeches as an exercise in schools and colleges; as, the practice declamation by students. The public listened with little emotion, but with much civility, to five acts of monotonous declamation. Macaulay. 2. A set or harangue; declamatory discourse. 3. Pretentious rhetorical display, with more sound than sense; as, mere declamation. "disputatious": Inclined to dispute; apt to civil or controvert; characterized by dispute; as, a disputatious person or temper. The Christian doctrine of a future life was no recommendation of the new religion to the wits and philosophers of that disputations period. Buckminster. -- Dis`pu*ta"tious*ly, adv. -- Dis`pu*ta"tious*ness, n. "demagogue": A leader of the rabble; one who attempts to control the multitude by specious or deceitful arts; an unprincipled and factious mob orator or political leader.

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3907 She harangued those who wanted to appease the dacoits, exhorting them to resist and fight and kill, if necessary, in defence of their lives and their land.
981 mesmerising prev next

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4548 They shifted constantly from foot to foot in a gentle, swaying dance that was as mesmerising, for everyone who saw it, as the sound-weaving hands of a flute player for his cobras.
982 permeated prev next
Definition  (permeate)
1. To pass through the pores or interstices of; to penetrate and pass through without causing rupture or displacement; -- applied especially to fluids which pass through substances of loose texture; as, water permeates sand. Woodward. 2. To enter and spread through; to pervade. God was conceived to be diffused throughout the whole world, to permeate and pervade all things. Cudworth. "diffused": Spread abroad; dispersed; loose; flowing; diffuse. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion. Hawthorne. -- Dif*fus"ed*ly, adv. -- Dif*fus"ed*ness, n. "pervade": 1. To pass or flow through, as an aperture, pore, or interstice; to permeate. That labyrinth is easily pervaded. Blackstone. 2. To pass or spread through the whole extent of; to be diffused throughout. A spirit of cabal, intrigue, and proselytism pervaded all their thoughts, words, and actions. Burke.

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8373 A smell of incense and flowers permeated, and the eerie, padded silences of closed rooms surrounded us.
983 unionists prev next
Definition  (unionist)
1. One who advocates or promotes union; especially a loyal supporter of a federal union, as that of the United States. 2. A member or supporter of a trades union.

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17470 If it mattered to them that Mobutu turned the weapons on trade unionists and other social reformers in his own country, they never expressed the concern publicly.
984 emotive prev next
Definition
Attended by, or having the character of, emotion. H. Brooke. -- E*mo"tive*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.69
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23166 He was a dark, thin-faced man with a hawk-like nose and a thickly emotive mouth.
985 inviolable prev next
Definition
1. Not violable; not susceptible of hurt, wound, or harm (used with respect to either physical or moral damage); not susceptible of being profaned or corrupted; sacred; holy; as, inviolable honor or chastity; an inviolable shrine. He tried a third, a tough, well-chosen spear, The inviolable body stood sincere. Dryden. 2. Unviolated; uninjured; undefiled; uncorrupted. For thou, be sure, shalt give account To him who sent us, whose charge is to keep This place inviolable, and these from harm. Milton. 3. Not capable of being broken or violated; as, an inviolable covenant, agreement, promise, or vow. Their almighty Maker first ordained And bound them with inviolable bands. Spenser. And keep our faiths firm and inviolable. Shak. "violable": Capable of being violated, broken, or injured. -- Vi"o*la*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.68
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Sen 660 She seemed to project an aura that was attractive and inviolable at the same time.
986 escapism prev next

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Sen 3267 When I understood that, a great many of the characteristically perplexing aspects of public life became comprehensible: from the acceptance of sprawling slums by city authorities, to the freedom that cows had to roam at random in the midst of traffic; from the toleration of beggars on the streets, to the concatenate complexity of the bureaucracies; and from the gorgeous, unashamed escapism of Bollywood movies, to the accommodation of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Tibet, Iran, Afghanistan, Africa, and Bangladesh, in a country that was already too crowded with sorrows and needs of its own.
987 inviolably prev next
Definition
Without violation.

Difficulty: 16.68
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15128 And that hardness divided my feelings from theirs as cleanly and inviolably as the metre-wide space on the deck separated me from their tangled, high-spirited party.
988 gymnastic prev next
Definition
Pertaining to athletic exercises intended for health, defense, or diversion; -- said of games or exercises, as running, leaping, wrestling, throwing the discus, the javelin, etc.; also, pertaining to disciplinary exercises for the intellect; athletic; as, gymnastic exercises, contests, etc. A gymnast. [Obs.] "discus": 1. (a) A quoit; a circular plate of some heavy material intended to be pitched or hurled as a trial of strength and skill. (b) The exercise with the discus. Note: This among the Greeks was one of the chief gymnastic exercises and was included in the Pentathlon (the contest of the five exercises). The chief contest was that of throwing the discus to the greatest possible distance. 2. A disk. See Disk.

Difficulty: 16.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9966 ‘Yes, okay very much!’ Tariq agreed, shaking my hand with gymnastic enthusiasm.
989 scammers prev next

Difficulty: 16.67
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Sen 11790 The street accepted me in that complex network of schemes and scammers for several reasons.
990 dockyard prev next
Definition
A yard or storage place for all sorts of naval stores and timber for shipbuilding. "shipbuilding": Naval architecturel the art of constructing ships and other vessels.

Difficulty: 16.67
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14576 At Sassoon Dock we crossed the road and passed beneath the arch at the main entrance to the old dockyard.
991 transom prev next
Definition
1. (Arch.) A horizontal crossbar in a window, over a door, or between a door and a window above it. Transom is the horizontal, as mullion is the vertical, bar across an opening. See Illust. of Mullion. 2. (Naut.) One of the principal transverse timbers of the stern, bolted to the sternpost and giving shape to the stern structure; -- called also transsummer. 3. (Gun.) The piece of wood or iron connecting the cheeks of some gun carriages. 4. (Surg.) The vane of a cross-staff. Chambers. 5. (Railroad) One of the crossbeams connecting the side frames of a truck with each other. Transom knees (Shipbuilding), knees bolted to the transoms and after timbers. -- Transom window. (Arch.) (a) A window divided horizontally by a transom or transoms. (b) A window over a door, with a transom between. "crossbar": A transverse bar or piece, as a bar across a door, or as the iron bar or stock which passes through the shank of an anchor to insure its turning fluke down. Russell. Crossbar shot, a projectile which folds into a sphere for loading, but on leaving the gun expands to a cross with a quarter ball at the end of each arm; -- used in naval actions for cutting the enemy's rigging. "transsummer": See Transom, 2. "shipbuilding": Naval architecturel the art of constructing ships and other vessels. "mullion": (a) A slender bar or pier which forms the division between the lights of windows, screens, etc. (b) An upright member of a framing. See Stile. To furnish with mullions; to divide by mullions. "sternpost": A straight piece of timber, or an iron bar or beam, erected on the extremity of the keel to support the rudder, and receive the ends of the planks or plates of the vessel. "transverse": Lying or being across, or in a crosswise direction; athwart; -- often opposed to Ant: longitudinal. Transverse axis (of an ellipse or hyperbola) (Geom.), that axis which passes through the foci. -- Transverse partition (Bot.), a partition, as of a pericarp, at right angles with the valves, as in the siliques of mustard. 1. Anything that is transverse or athwart. 2. (Geom.) The longer, or transverse, axis of an ellipse. To overturn; to change. [R.] C. Leslie. To change from prose into verse, or from verse into prose. [Obs.] Duke of Buckingham.

Difficulty: 16.66
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7566 The uppermost floors hadn’t been concreted, but the framework of upright, transom, and truss girders was already in place and even there, thirty-five storeys into the sky, women worked beside the men.
992 minaret prev next
Definition
A slender, lofty tower attached to a mosque and surrounded by one or more projecting balconies, from which the summon to prayer is cried by the muezzin. "muezzin": A Mohammedan crier of the hour of prayer. [Written also mouezzin, mueddin, and muwazzin.]

Difficulty: 16.66
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Sen 10545 The smile shining from his brave young face was like moonlight gleaming on the minaret of Haji Ali’s white mosque.
993 stagehands prev next

Difficulty: 16.66
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17745 Cliff and the stagehands backed away as the cast members took their places on the set.
994 pragmatism prev next
Definition
The quality or state of being pragmatic; in literature, the pragmatic, or philosophical, method. The narration of this apparently trifling circumstance belongs to the pragmatism of the history. A. Murphy.

Difficulty: 16.65
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5565 But Indian pragmatism recognised that civilised people in large, modern cities needed places to gather and hunt.
995 unobtrusively prev next
Definition  (unobtrusive)
Not obtrusive; not presuming; modest. -- Un`ob*tru"sive*ly, adv. -- Un`ob*tru"sive*ness, n. "obtrusive": Disposed to obtrude; inclined to intrude or thrust one's self or one's opinions upon others, or to enter uninvited; forward; pushing; intrusive. -- Ob*tru"sive*ly, adv. -- Ob*tru"sive*ness, n. Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.64
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 48 To camouflage themselves, when using false passports and identification papers, smugglers insinuate themselves into the company of fellow travellers—camels, who’ll carry them safely and unobtrusively through airport or border controls without realising it.
996 trop prev next

Difficulty: 16.64
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1403 ‘C’est trop!
997 unobtrusive prev next
Definition
Not obtrusive; not presuming; modest. -- Un`ob*tru"sive*ly, adv. -- Un`ob*tru"sive*ness, n. "obtrusive": Disposed to obtrude; inclined to intrude or thrust one's self or one's opinions upon others, or to enter uninvited; forward; pushing; intrusive. -- Ob*tru"sive*ly, adv. -- Ob*tru"sive*ness, n. Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.64
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6541 His authority was clear and unquestioned, but it was a subtle, unobtrusive leadership.
998 corrugated prev next
Definition  (corrugate)
Wrinkled; crumpled; furrowed; contracted into ridges and furrows. To form or shape into wrinkles or folds, or alternate ridges and grooves, as by drawing, contraction, pressure, bending, or otherwise; to wrinkle; to purse up; as, to corrugate plates of iron; to corrugate the forehead. Corrugated iron, sheet iron bent into a series of alternate ridges and grooves in parallel lines, giving it greater stiffness. -- Corrugated paper, a thick, coarse paper corrugated in order to give it elasticity. It is used as a wrapping material for fragile articles, as bottles. "elasticity": 1. The quality of being elastic; the inherent property in bodies by which they recover their former figure or dimensions, after the removal of external pressure or altering force; springiness; tendency to rebound; as, the elasticity of caoutchouc; the elasticity of the air. 2. Power of resistance to, or recovery from, depression or overwork. Coefficient of elasticity, the quotient of a stress (of a given kind), by the strain (of a given kind) which it produces; -- called also coefficient of resistance. -- Surface of elasticity (Geom.), the pedal surface of an ellipsoid (see Pedal); a surface used in explaining the phenomena of double refraction and their relation to the elastic force of the luminous ether in crystalline media. "stiffness": The quality or state of being stiff; as, the stiffness of cloth or of paste; stiffness of manner; stiffness of character. The vices of old age have the stiffness of it too. South.

Difficulty: 16.64
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17592 I was curious to see the large, prestigious studio complex, and as I rode through the entrance gates my spirits lifted to the tall grey sails of the corrugated gable roofs.
999 parallax prev next
Definition
1. The apparent displacement, or difference of position, of an object, as seen from two different stations, or points of view. 2. (Astron.) The apparent difference in position of a body (as the sun, or a star) as seen from some point on the earth's surface, and as seen from some other conventional point, as the earth's center or the sun. Annual parallax, the greatest value of the heliocentric parallax, or the greatest annual apparent change of place of a body as seen from the earth and sun; as, the annual parallax of a fixed star. -- Binocular parallax, the apparent difference in position of an object as seen separately by one eye, and then by the other, the head remaining unmoved. -- Diurnal, or Geocentric, parallax, the parallax of a body with reference to the earth's center. This is the kind of parallax that is generally understood when the term is used without qualification. -- Heliocentric parallax, the parallax of a body with reference to the sun, or the angle subtended at the body by lines drawn from it to the earth and sun; as, the heliocentric parallax of a planet. -- Horizontal parallax, the geocentric parallx of a heavenly body when in the horizon, or the angle subtended at the body by the earth's radius. -- Optical parallax, the apparent displacement in position undergone by an object when viewed by either eye singly. Brande & C. -- Parallax of the cross wires (of an optical instrument), their apparent displacement when the eye changes its position, caused by their not being exactly in the focus of the object glass. -- Stellar parallax, the annual parallax of a fixed star. "diurnal": 1. Relating to the daytime; belonging to the period of daylight, distinguished from the night; -- opposed to Ant: nocturnal; as, diurnal heat; diurnal hours. 2. Daily; recurring every day; performed in a day; going through its changes in a day; constituting the measure of a day; as, a diurnal fever; a diurnal task; diurnal aberration, or diurnal parallax; the diurnal revolution of the earth. Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring. Shak. 3. (Bot.) Opening during the day, and closing at night; -- said of flowers or leaves. 4. (Zoöl.) Active by day; -- applied especially to the eagles and hawks among raptorial birds, and to butterflies (Diurna) among insects. Diurnal aberration (Anat.), the aberration of light arising from the effect of the earth's rotation upon the apparent direction of motion of light. -- Diurnal arc, the arc described by the sun during the daytime or while above the horizon; hence, the arc described by the moon or a star from rising to setting. -- Diurnal circle, the apparent circle described by a celestial body in consequence of the earth's rotation. -- Diurnal motion of the earth, the motion of the earth upon its axis which is described in twentyfour hours. -- Diurnal motion of a heavenly body, that apparent motion of the heavenly body which is due to the earth's diurnal motion. -- Diurnal parallax. See under Parallax. -- Diurnal revolution of a planet, the motion of the planet upon its own axis which constitutes one complete revolution. Syn. -- See Daily. 1. A daybook; a journal. [Obs.] Tatler. 2. (R. C. Ch.) A small volume containing the daily service for the "little hours," viz., prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline. 3. (Zoöl.) A diurnal bird or insect. "heliocentric": pertaining to the sun's center, or appearing to be seen from it; having, or relating to, the sun as a center; -- opposed to geocentrical. Heliocentric parallax. See under Parallax. -- Heliocentric place, latitude, longitude, etc. (of a heavenly body), the direction, latitude, longitude, etc., of the body as viewed from the sun. "geocentric": (a) Having reference to the earth as center; in relation to or seen from the earth, -- usually opposed to heliocentric, as seen from the sun; as, the geocentric longitude or latitude of a planet. (b) Having reference to the center of the earth. Geocentric latitude (of place) the angle included between the radius of the earth through the place and the plane of the equator, in distinction from geographic latitude. It is a little less than the geographic latitude. "unmoved": Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic. -- Un*mov"ed*ly, adv. "binocular": 1. Having two eyes. "Most animals are binocular." Derham. 2. Pertaining to both eyes; employing both eyes at once; as, binocular vision. 3. Adapted to the use of both eyes; as, a binocular microscope or telescope. Brewster. A binocular glass, whether opera glass, telescope, or microscope. "singly": 1. Individually; particularly; severally; as, to make men singly and personally good. 2. Only; by one's self; alone. Look thee, 't is so! Thou singly honest man. Shak. 3. Without partners, companions, or associates; single-handed; as, to attack another singly. At omber singly to decide their doom. Pope. 4. Honestly; sincerely; simply. [R.] Johnson. 5. Singularly; peculiarly. [Obs.] Milton.

Difficulty: 16.64
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26781 There was something missing: some calculation, some piece of evidence or parallax view of my life that would make it all clear to me, I was sure, but I didn’t know what it was.
1000 coagulation prev next
Definition
1. The change from a liquid to a thickened, curdlike, insoluble state, not by evaporation, but by some kind of chemical reaction; as, the spontaneous coagulation of freshly drawn blood; the coagulation of milk by rennet, or acid, and the coagulation of egg albumin by heat. Coagulation is generally the change of an albuminous body into an insoluble modification. 2. The substance or body formed by coagulation. "insoluble": 1. Not soluble; in capable or difficult of being dissolved, as by a liquid; as, chalk is insoluble in water. 2. Not to be solved or explained; insolvable; as, an insoluble doubt, question, or difficulty. 3. Strong. "An insoluble wall." [Obs.] Holland "albumin": A thick, viscous nitrogenous substance, which is the chief and characteristic constituent of white of eggs and of the serum of blood, and is found in other animal substances, both fluid and solid, also in many plants. It is soluble in water is coagulated by heat ad by certain chemical reagents. Acid albumin, a modification of albumin produced by the action of dilute acids. It is not coagulated by heat. -- Alkali albumin, albumin as modified by the action of alkaline substances; -- called also albuminate. "rennet": A name of many different kinds of apples. Cf. Reinette. Mortimer. The inner, or mucous, membrance of the fourth stomach of the calf, or other young ruminant; also, an infusion or preparation of it, used for coagulating milk. [Written also runnet.] Cheese rennet. (Bot.) See under Cheese. -- Rennet ferment (Physiol. Chem.), a ferment, present in rennet and in variable quantity in the gastric juice of most animals, which has the power of curdling milk. The ferment presumably acts by changing the casein of milk from a soluble to an insoluble form. -- Rennet stomach (Anat.), the fourth stomach, or abomasum, of ruminants. "albuminous": Pertaining to, or containing, albumen; having the properties of, or resembling, albumen or albumin. -- Al*bu"mi*nous*ness, n. "evaporation": 1. The process by which any substance is converted from a liquid state into, and carried off in, vapor; as, the evaporation of water, of ether, of camphor. 2. The transformation of a portion of a fluid into vapor, in order to obtain the fixed matter contained in it in a state of greater consistence. 3. That which is evaporated; vapor. 4. (Steam Engine) See Vaporization.

Difficulty: 16.63
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22783 There was no exit wound, but there was extensive blood coagulation and bruising on the left side of his chest.
1001 lithe prev next
Definition
To listen or listen to; to hearken to. [Obs.] P. Plowman. 1. Mild; calm; as, lithe weather. [Obs.] 2. Capable of being easily bent; pliant; flexible; limber; as, the elephant's lithe proboscis. Milton. To smooth; to soften; to palliate. [Obs.] "pliant": 1. Capable of plying or bending; readily yielding to force or pressure without breaking; flexible; pliable; lithe; limber; plastic; as, a pliant thread; pliant wax. Also used figuratively: Easily influenced for good or evil; tractable; as, a pliant heart. The will was then ductile and pliant to right reason. South. 2. Favorable to pliancy. [R.] "A pliant hour." Shak. -- Pli"ant*ly, adv. -- Pli"ant*ness, n. "hearken": 1. To listen; to lend the ear; to attend to what is uttered; to give heed; to hear, in order to obey or comply. The Furies hearken, and their snakes uncurl. Dryden. Hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you. Deut. iv. 1. 2. To inquire; to seek information. [Obs.] "Hearken after their offense." Shak. Syn. -- To attend; listen; hear; heed. See Attend, v. i. 1. To hear by listening. [Archaic] [She] hearkened now and then Some little whispering and soft groaning sound. Spenser. 2. To give heed to; to hear attentively. [Archaic] The King of Naples . . . hearkens my brother's suit. Shak. To hearken out, to search out. [Obs.] If you find none, you must hearken out a vein and buy. B. Johnson. "plowman": 1. One who plows, or who holds and guides a plow; hence, a husbandman. Chaucer. Macaulay. 2. A rustic; a countryman; a field laborer. Plowman's spikenard (Bot.), a European composite weed (Conyza squarrosa), having fragrant roots. Dr. Prior. "palliate": 1. Covered with a mant [Obs.] Bp. Hall. 2. Eased; mitigated; alleviated. [Obs.] Bp. Fell. 1. To cover with a mantle or cloak; to cover up; to hide. [Obs.] Being palliated with a pilgrim's coat. Sir T. Herbert. 2. To cover with excuses; to conceal the enormity of, by excuses and apologies; to extenuate; as, to palliate faults. They never hide or palliate their vices. Swift. 3. To reduce in violence; to lessen or abate; to mitigate; to ease withhout curing; as, to palliate a disease. To palliate dullness, and give time a shove. Cowper. Syn. -- To cover; cloak; hide; extenuate; conceal. -- To Palliate, Extenuate, Cloak. These words, as here compared, are used in a figurative sense in reference to our treatment of wrong action. We cloak in order to conceal completely. We extenuate a crime when we endeavor to show that it is less than has been supposed; we palliate a crime when we endeavor to cover or conceal its enormity, at least in part. This naturally leads us to soften some of its features, and thus palliate approaches extenuate till they have become nearly or quite identical. "To palliate is not now used, though it once was, in the sense of wholly cloaking or covering over, as it might be, our sins, but in that of extenuating; to palliate our faults is not to hide them altogether, but to seek to diminish their guilt in part." Trench. "proboscis": 1. (Zoöl.) A hollow organ or tube attached to the head, or connected with the mouth, of various animals, and generally used in taking food or drink; a snout; a trunk. Note: The proboscis of an elephant is a flexible muscular elongation of the nose. The proboscis of insects is usually a chitinous tube formed by the modified maxillæ, or by the labium. See Illusts. of Hemiptera and Lepidoptera. 2. (Zoöl.) By extension, applied to various tubelike mouth organs of the lower animals that can be everted or protruded. Note: The proboscis of annelids and of mollusks is usually a portion of the pharynx that can be everted or protruded. That of nemerteans is a special long internal organ, not connected with the mouth, and not used in feeding, but capable of being protruded from a pore in the head. See Illust. in Appendix. 3. The nose. [Jocose] Proboscis monkey. (Zoöl.) See Kahau.

Difficulty: 16.63
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Sen 26920 He had a lithe build, and was average tall, my height, with an open, handsome face.
1002 commiserated prev next
Definition  (commiserate)
To feel sorrow, pain, or regret for; to pity. Then must we those, who groan, beneath the weight Of age, disease, or want, commiserate. Denham. We should commiserate our mutual ignorance. Locke. Syn. -- To pity; compassionate; lament; condole. "condole": To express sympathetic sorrow; to grieve in sympathy; -- followed by with. Your friends would have cause to rejoice, rather than condole with you. Sir W. Temple. To lament or grieve over. [R.] I come not, Samson, to condole thy chance. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.62
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Sen 3298 When at last he rose to leave, and I resumed my seat, he muttered such a vile curse that the other passengers sputtered into guffaws of laughter, and a couple of them commiserated with me by patting my shoulder and back.
1003 piteousness prev next
Definition  (piteous)
1. Pious; devout. [Obs.] The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation. Wyclif. 2. Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate; tender. "[She] piteous of his case." Pope. She was so charitable and so pitous. Chaucer. 3. Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable; lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case. Spenser. The most piteous tale of Lear. Shak. 4. Paltry; mean; pitiful. "Piteous amends." Milton. Syn. -- Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful; sad; wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful; compassionate. -- Pit"e*ous*ly, adv. -- Pit"e*ous*ness, n. "rueful": 1. Causing one to rue or lament; woeful; mournful; sorrowful. 2. Expressing sorrow. "Rueful faces." Dryden. Two rueful figures, with long black cloaks. Sir W. Scott. -- Rue"ful*ly, adv. -- Rue"ful*ness, n. "doleful": Full of dole or grief; expressing or exciting sorrow; sorrowful; sad; dismal. With screwed face and doleful whine. South. Regions of sorrow, doleful shades. Milton. Syn. -- Piteous; rueful; sorrowful; woeful; melancholy; sad gloomy; dismal; dolorous; woe-begone. - Dole"ful*ly, adv. -- Dole"ful*ness, n. "pitiable": Deserving pity; wworthy of, or exciting, compassion; miserable; lamentable; piteous; as, pitiable persons; a pitiable condition; pitiable wretchedness. Syn. -- Sorrowful; woeful; sad. See Piteous. -- Pit"i*a*ble*ness, n. -- Pit"i*a*bly, adv. "lamentable": 1. Mourning; sorrowful; expressing grief; as, a lamentable countenance. "Lamentable eye." Spenser. 2. Fitted to awaken lament; to be lamented; sorrowful; pitiable; as, a lamentable misfortune, or error. "Lamentable helplessness." Burke. 3. Miserable; pitiful; paltry; -- in a contemptuous or Bp. Stillingfleet. -- Lam"en*ta*ble*ness, n. -- Lam"en*ta*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 547 But as Prabaker led me on through the roistering crowd, he drew my attention to other images of those beggars that softened the awful caricature presented by the performance of their piteousness.
1004 hexagons prev next
Definition  (hexagon)
A plane figure of six angles. Regular hexagon, a hexagon in which the angles are all equal, and the sides are also all equal.

Difficulty: 16.61
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1373 Its intricate tile-work replicated the pattern used in a north Indian palace, with hexagons in black, cream, and brown radiating from a central sunburst.
1005 bulbous prev next
Definition
Having or containing bulbs, or a bulb; growing from bulbs; bulblike in shape or structure.

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Sen 4210 What I saw was a plain, wide face with a bulbous nose, and lips so thin and curled with contempt that her mouth resembled a clam that some-one had poked with a stick.
1006 invigorated prev next
Definition  (invigorate)
To give vigor to; to strengthen; to animate; to give life and energy to. Christian graces and virtues they can not be, unless fed, invigorated, and animated by universal charity. Atterbury. Syn. -- To refresh; animate; exhilarate; stimulate. "exhilarate": To make merry or jolly; to enliven; to animate; to gladden greatly; to cheer; as, good news exhilarates the mind; wine exhilarates a man. To become joyous. [R.] Bacon.

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Sen 6451 The people, as I passed them, were robust and invigorated.
1007 sinewy prev next
Definition
1. Pertaining to, consisting of, or resembling, a sinew or sinews. The sinewy thread my brain lets fall. Donne. 2. Well braced with, or as if with, sinews; nervous; vigorous; strong; firm; tough; as, the sinewy Ajax. A man whose words . . . were so close and sinewy. Hare.

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Sen 6618 Qasim Ali’s nut-brown skin, stretched over his lean and sinewy body, was as smooth and taut as a boxer’s glove.
1008 piteous prev next
Definition
1. Pious; devout. [Obs.] The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation. Wyclif. 2. Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate; tender. "[She] piteous of his case." Pope. She was so charitable and so pitous. Chaucer. 3. Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable; lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case. Spenser. The most piteous tale of Lear. Shak. 4. Paltry; mean; pitiful. "Piteous amends." Milton. Syn. -- Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful; sad; wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful; compassionate. -- Pit"e*ous*ly, adv. -- Pit"e*ous*ness, n. "rueful": 1. Causing one to rue or lament; woeful; mournful; sorrowful. 2. Expressing sorrow. "Rueful faces." Dryden. Two rueful figures, with long black cloaks. Sir W. Scott. -- Rue"ful*ly, adv. -- Rue"ful*ness, n. "doleful": Full of dole or grief; expressing or exciting sorrow; sorrowful; sad; dismal. With screwed face and doleful whine. South. Regions of sorrow, doleful shades. Milton. Syn. -- Piteous; rueful; sorrowful; woeful; melancholy; sad gloomy; dismal; dolorous; woe-begone. - Dole"ful*ly, adv. -- Dole"ful*ness, n. "pitiable": Deserving pity; wworthy of, or exciting, compassion; miserable; lamentable; piteous; as, pitiable persons; a pitiable condition; pitiable wretchedness. Syn. -- Sorrowful; woeful; sad. See Piteous. -- Pit"i*a*ble*ness, n. -- Pit"i*a*bly, adv. "lamentable": 1. Mourning; sorrowful; expressing grief; as, a lamentable countenance. "Lamentable eye." Spenser. 2. Fitted to awaken lament; to be lamented; sorrowful; pitiable; as, a lamentable misfortune, or error. "Lamentable helplessness." Burke. 3. Miserable; pitiful; paltry; -- in a contemptuous or Bp. Stillingfleet. -- Lam"en*ta*ble*ness, n. -- Lam"en*ta*bly, adv.

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Sen 23638 But at that moment we heard a piercingly piteous scream of terror.
1009 heavyset prev next

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Sen 13163 He was tall and heavyset.
1010 sauntered prev next
Definition  (saunter)
To wander or walk about idly and in a leisurely or lazy manner; to lounge; to stroll; to loiter. One could lie under elm trees in a lawn, or saunter in meadows by the side of a stream. Masson. Syn. -- To loiter; linger; stroll; wander. A sauntering, or a sauntering place. That wheel of fops, that saunter of the town. Young.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16364 He sauntered off in pursuit of a passing trio of German tourists, and I walked back into the restaurant.
1011 earache prev next
Definition
Ache or pain in the ear.

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Sen 20107 And think of every pain you’ve ever known—the burn with hot oil, the sharp sliver of glass, the broken bone, the gravel rash when you fell on the rough road in winter, the headache and the earache and the toothache.
1012 aspirated prev next
Definition
Pronounced with the h sound or with audible breath. But yet they are not aspirate, i. e., with such an aspiration as h. Holder. "aspirate": To pronounce with a breathing, an aspirate, or an h sound; as, we aspirate the words horse and house; to aspirate a vowel or a liquid consonant. 1. A sound consisting of, or characterized by, a breath like the sound of h; the breathing h or a character representing such a sound; an aspirated sound. 2. A mark of aspiration used in Greek; the asper, or rough breathing. Bentley. 3. An elementary sound produced by the breath alone; a surd, or nonvocal consonant; as, f, th in thin, etc. Pronounced with the h sound or with audible breath. But yet they are not aspirate, i. e., with such an aspiration as h. Holder.

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Sen 14282 Softly rounded American vowels blended with breathy, aspirated Arabic in a sound, a voice, that was somewhere between Omar Sharif and Nicholas Cage.
1013 boatmen prev next

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Sen 21196 I dragged my eyes from the sight of them, as boatmen drag a lake with starry hooks.
1014 predations prev next
Definition  (predation)
The act of pillaging. E. Hall.

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Sen 4003 Fields flooded, or succumbed to the predations of insects and crop diseases.
1015 sunlit prev next
Definition
Lighted by the sun.

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Sen 8371 We entered a long, cool corridor, darker than the sunlit street but softly illuminated by lily-shaped lamps of fluted glass.
1016 lilting prev next
Definition  (lilt)
1. To do anything with animation and quickness, as to skip, fly, or hop. [Prov. Eng.] Wordsworth. 2. To sing cheerfully. [Scot.] To utter with spirit, animation, or gayety; to sing with spirit and liveliness. A classic lecture, rich in sentiment, With scraps of thundrous epic lilted out By violet-hooded doctors. Tennyson. 1. Animated, brisk motion; spirited rhythm; sprightliness. The movement, the lilt, and the subtle charm of the verse. F. Harrison. 2. A lively song or dance; a cheerful tune. The housewife went about her work, or spun at her wheel, with a lilt upon her lips. J. C. Shairp. "quickness": 1. The condition or quality of being quick or living; life. [Obs.] Touch it with thy celestial quickness. Herbert. 2. Activity; briskness; especially, rapidity of motion; speed; celerity; as, quickness of wit. This deed . . . must send thee hence With fiery quickness. Shak. His mind had, indeed, great quickness and vigor. Macaulay. 3. Acuteness of perception; keen sensibility. Would not quickness of sensation be an inconvenience to an animal that must lie still Locke 4. Sharpness; pungency of taste. Mortimer. Syn. -- Velocity; celerity; rapidity; speed; haste; expedition; promptness; dispatch; swiftness; nimbleness; fleetness; agility; briskness; liveliness; readiness; sagacity; shrewdness; shrewdness; sharpness; keenness. "gayety": 1. The state of being gay; merriment; mirth; acts or entertainments prompted by, or inspiring, merry delight; -- used often in the plural; as, the gayeties of the season. 2. Finery; show; as, the gayety of dress. Syn. -- Liveliness; mirth; animation; vivacity; glee; blithesomeness; sprightliness; jollity. See Liveliness. "thundrous": Thunderous; sonorous. "Scraps of thunderous epic." Tennyson. "sprightliness": The quality or state of being sprightly; liveliness; life; briskness; vigor; activity; gayety; vivacity. In dreams, observe with what a sprightliness and alacrity does she [the soul] exert herself! Addison. "liveliness": 1. The quality or state of being lively or animated; sprightliness; vivacity; animation; spirit; as, the liveliness of youth, contrasted with the gravity of age. B. Jonson. 2. An appearance of life, animation, or spirit; as, the liveliness of the eye or the countenance in a portrait. 3. Briskness; activity; effervescence, as of liquors. Syn. -- Sprightliness; gayety; animation; vivacity; smartness; briskness; activity. -- Liveliness, Gayety, Animation, Vivacity. Liveliness is an habitual feeling of life and interest; gayety refers more to a temporary excitement of the animal spirits; animation implies a warmth of emotion and a corresponding vividness of expressing it, awakened by the presence of something which strongly affects the mind; vivacity is a feeling between liveliness and animation, having the permanency of the one, and, to some extent, the warmth of the other. Liveliness of imagination; gayety of heart; animation of countenance; vivacity of gesture or conversation.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12072 Her lilting German accent gave a fluttering music to her speech that pleased my ear.
1017 legislated prev next
Definition  (legislate)
To make or enact a law or laws. Solon, in legislating for the Athenians, had an idea of a more perfect constitution than he gave them. Bp. Watson (1805). "solon": A celebrated Athenian lawmaker, born about 638 b. c.; hence, a legislator; a publicist; -- often used ironically.

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Sen 17378 Sometimes the upheaval was legislated: thousands of Hong Kong residents who weren’t recognised as British citizens became potential clients, with the stroke of a pen, when Britain decided in 1984 to return its colonial possession to China in a thirteen-year resolution of sovereignty.
1018 expletive prev next
Definition
Filling up; hence, added merely for the purpose of filling up; superfluous. "Expletive imagery." Hallam. Expletive phrases to plump his speech. Barrow. A word, letter, or syllable not necessary to the sense, but inserted to fill a vacancy; an oath. While explectives their feeble aid to join, And ten low words oft creep in one dull line. Pope.

Difficulty: 16.58
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21854 ‘Of course I’m fuckun okay!’ I snapped, a purely Australian accent punching into the expletive.
1019 iterations prev next
Definition  (iteration)
Recital or performance a second time; repetition. Bacon. What needs this iteration, woman Shak.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20340 And on that night, holding Karla’s heart against my own as we watched his fire dance on the sand, I remembered another of his English iterations.
1020 antagonists prev next
Definition  (antagonist)
1. One who contends with another, especially in combat; an adversary; an opponent. Antagonist of Heaven's Almigthy King. Milton. Our antagonists in these controversies. Hooker. 2. (Anat.) A muscle which acts in opposition to another; as a flexor, which bends a part, is the antagonist of an extensor, which extends it. 3. (Med.) A medicine which opposes the action of another medicine or of a poison when absorbed into the blood or tissues. Syn. -- Adversary; enemy; opponent; toe; competitor. See Adversary. Antagonistic; opposing; counteracting; as, antagonist schools of philosophy. "extensor": A muscle which serves to extend or straighten any part of the body, as an arm or a finger; -- opposed to flexor. "antagonistic": Opposing in combat, combating; contending or acting against; as, antagonistic forces. -- An*tag`o*nis"tic*al*ly, adv. They were distinct, adverse, even antagonistic. Milman. "flexor": A muscle which bends or flexes any part; as, the flexors of the arm or the hand; -- opposed to extensor.

Difficulty: 16.57
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9327 The problem, between the two antagonists, whatever it was, had been resolved in the violent encounter, and the matter was finished so far as they were concerned.
1021 obsequious prev next
Definition
1. Promptly obedient, or submissive, to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the desires of another; devoted. [Obs.] His servants weeping, Obsequious to his orders, bear him hither. Addison. 2. Servilely or meanly attentive; compliant to excess; cringing; fawning; as, obsequious flatterer, parasite. There lies ever in "obsequious" at the present the sense of an observance which is overdone, of an unmanly readiness to fall in with the will of another. Trench. 3. Etym: [See Obsequy.] Of or pertaining to obsequies; funereal. [R.] "To do obsequious sorrow." Shak. Syn. -- Compliant; obedient; servile. See Yielding. "servilely": In a servile manner; slavishly. "funereal": Suiting a funeral; pertaining to burial; solemn. Hence: Dark; dismal; mournful. Jer. Taylor. What seem to us but sad funereal tapers May be heaven's distant lamps. Longfellow. -- Fu*ne"re*al*ly, adv. "meanly": Moderately. [Obs.] A man meanly learned himself, but not meanly affectioned to set forward learning in others. Ascham. In a mean manner; unworthily; basely; poorly; ungenerously. While the heaven-born child All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies. Milton. Would you meanly thus rely On power you know I must obey Prior. We can not bear to have others think meanly of them [our kindred]. I. Watts. "obsequies": See Obsequy. "servile": 1. Of or pertaining to a servant or slave; befitting a servant or a slave; proceeding from dependence; hence, meanly submissive; slavish; mean; cringing; fawning; as, servile flattery; servile fear; servile obedience. She must bend the servile knee. Thomson. Fearing dying pays death servile breath. Shak. 2. Held in subjection; dependent; enslaved. Even fortune rules no more, O servile land! Pope. 3. (Gram.) (a) Not belonging to the original root; as, a servile letter. (b) Not itself sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceeding vowel, as e in tune. An element which forms no part of the original root; -- opposed to radical. "observance": 1. The act or practice of observing or noticing with attention; a heeding or keeping with care; performance; -- usually with a sense of strictness and fidelity; as, the observance of the Sabbath is general; the strict observance of duties. It is a custom More honored in the breach than the observance. Shak. 2. An act, ceremony, or rite, as of worship or respect; especially, a customary act or service of attention; a form; a practice; a rite; a custom. At dances These young folk kept their observances. Chaucer. Use all the observance of civility. Shak. Some represent to themselves the whole of religion as consisting in a few easy observances. Rogers. O I that wasted time to tend upon her, To compass her with sweet observances! Tennyson. 3. Servile attention; sycophancy. [Obs.] Salads and flesh, such as their haste could get, Served with observance. Chapman. This is not atheism, But court observance. Beau. & Fl. Syn. -- Observance, Observation. These words are discriminated by the two distinct senses of observe. To observe means (1) to keep strictly; as, to observe a fast day, and hence, observance denotes the keeping or heeding with strictness; (2) to consider attentively, or to remark; and hence, observation denotes either the act of observing, or some remark made as the result thereof. We do not say the observation of Sunday, though the word was formerly so used. The Pharisees were curious in external observances; the astronomers are curious in celestial observations. Love rigid honesty, And strict observance of impartial laws. Roscommon. "etym": See Etymon. H. F. Talbot. "obsequy": 1. The last duty or service to a person, rendered after his death; hence, a rite or ceremony pertaining to burial; -- now used only in the plural. Spencer. I will...fetch him hence, and solemnly attend, With silent obsequy and funeral train. Milton I will myself Be the chief mourner at his obsequies. Dryden. The funeral obsequies were decently and privately performed by his family J. P. Mahaffy. 2. Obsequiousness. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Difficulty: 16.57
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10438 Those dogs that were so cowed and obsequious in the daylight hours formed themselves into vicious, feral packs at night.
1022 obsequiousness prev next
Definition
The quality or state of being obsequious. South.

Difficulty: 16.57
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13213 As they ate noisily, they threw scraps of chicken, bread, or fruit outwards to the surrounding flunkies sitting on their haunches in simian obsequiousness, and waiting with bulging eyes and salivating mouths.
1023 riotous prev next
Definition
1. Involving, or engaging in, riot; wanton; unrestrained; luxurious. The younger son . . . took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. Luke xv. 13. 2. Partaking of the nature of an unlawful assembly or its acts; seditious. -- Ri"ot*ous*ly, adv. -- Ri"ot*ous*ness, n. "seditious": 1. Of or pertaining to sedition; partaking of the nature of, or tending to excite, sedition; as, seditious behavior; seditious strife; seditious words. 2. Disposed to arouse, or take part in, violent opposition to lawful authority; turbulent; factious; guilty of sedition; as, seditious citizens. -- Se*di"tious*ly, adv. -- Se*di"tious*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.57
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17133 Seconds after we entered, someone shouted Quiet, please] And then a riotous musical number began.
1024 swath prev next
Definition
1. A line of grass or grain cut and thrown together by the scythe in mowing or cradling. 2. The whole sweep of a scythe, or the whole breadth from which grass or grain is cut by a scythe or a machine, in mowing or cradling; as, to cut a wide swath. 3. A band or fillet; a swathe. Shak. Swath bank, a row of new-mown grass. [Prov. Eng.] "swathe": To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers. Their children are never swathed or bound about with any thing when they are first born. Abp. Abbot. A bandage; a band; a swath. Wrapped me in above an hundred yards of swathe. Addison. Milk and a swathe, at first, his whole demand. Young. The solemn glory of the afternoon, with its long swathes of light between the far off rows of limes. G. Eliot. "cradling": 1. The act of using a cradle. 2. (Coopering) Cutting a cask into two pieces lengthwise, to enable it to pass a narrow place, the two parts being afterward united and rehooped. 3. (Carp.) The framework in arched or coved ceilings to which the laths are nailed. Knight.

Difficulty: 16.56
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7950 They’d scythed and smashed a swath, one hundred metres long and ten metres wide, at the north-eastern corner of the illegal slum.
1025 swathed prev next
Definition  (swath)
1. A line of grass or grain cut and thrown together by the scythe in mowing or cradling. 2. The whole sweep of a scythe, or the whole breadth from which grass or grain is cut by a scythe or a machine, in mowing or cradling; as, to cut a wide swath. 3. A band or fillet; a swathe. Shak. Swath bank, a row of new-mown grass. [Prov. Eng.] "swathe": To bind with a swathe, band, bandage, or rollers. Their children are never swathed or bound about with any thing when they are first born. Abp. Abbot. A bandage; a band; a swath. Wrapped me in above an hundred yards of swathe. Addison. Milk and a swathe, at first, his whole demand. Young. The solemn glory of the afternoon, with its long swathes of light between the far off rows of limes. G. Eliot. "cradling": 1. The act of using a cradle. 2. (Coopering) Cutting a cask into two pieces lengthwise, to enable it to pass a narrow place, the two parts being afterward united and rehooped. 3. (Carp.) The framework in arched or coved ceilings to which the laths are nailed. Knight.

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Sen 23923 I felt along the padded bandages that swathed my shins, from knees to ankles.
1026 kommen prev next

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Sen 1233 Naja, ten minutes in the room and erwollte auf der Klamotten kommen.
1027 komm prev next

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Sen 17736 ‘Na, komm’ schonl Hor’ aufi’ one of the girls said.
1028 coherence prev next
Definition
1. A sticking or cleaving together; union of parts of the same body; cohesion. 2. Connection or dependence, proceeding from the subordination of the parts of a thing to one principle or purpose, as in the parts of a discourse, or of a system of philosophy; consecutiveness. Coherence of discourse, and a direct tendency of all the parts of it to the argument in hand, are most eminently to be found in him. Locke. "eminently": In an eminent manner; in a high degree; conspicuously; as, to be eminently learned. "consecutiveness": The state or quality of being consecutive. "subordination": 1. The act of subordinating, placing in a lower order, or subjecting. 2. The quality or state of being subordinate or inferior to an other; inferiority of rank or dignity; subjection. Natural creature having a local subordination. Holyday. 3. Place of inferior rank. Persons who in their several subordinations would be obliged to follow the example of their superiors. Swift.

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Sen 10016 I realised that she was early drunk, in that squall of coherence before slurred speech and clumsiness and collapse.
1029 durability prev next
Definition
The state or quality of being durable; the power of uninterrupted or long continuance in any condition; the power of resisting agents or influences which tend to cause changes, decay, or dissolution; lastingness. A Gothic cathedral raises ideas of grandeur in our minds by the size, its height, . . . its antiquity, and its durability. Blair.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15284 Renowned for its idiosyncratic handling as much as for its reliability and durability, the Bullet was a bike that demanded a relationship with its rider.
1030 pilfered prev next
Definition  (pilfer)
To steal in small quantities, or articles of small value; to practice petty theft. To take by petty theft; to filch; to steal little by little. And not a year but pilfers as he goes Some youthful grace that age would gladly keep. Cowper. "filch": To steal or take privily (commonly, that which is of little value); to pilfer. Fain would they filch that little food away. Dryden. But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed. Shak.

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Sen 22818 I pulled the metal pieces from his body with long stainless steel tweezers and a pair of long-nosed pliers I pilfered from the mechanic’s kit.
1031 recuperation prev next
Definition
Recovery, as of anything lost, especially of the health or strength.

Difficulty: 16.54
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Sen 24621 And I knew, as well, that the revenge I’d fed myself with and planned through the weeks of my recuperation in Pakistan was not merely hers, not only hers.
1032 mutinous prev next
Definition
Disposed to mutiny; in a state of mutiny; characterized by mutiny; seditious; insubordinate. The city was becoming mutinous. Macaulay. -- Mu"ti*nous*ly, adv. -- Mu"ti*nous*ness, n. "seditious": 1. Of or pertaining to sedition; partaking of the nature of, or tending to excite, sedition; as, seditious behavior; seditious strife; seditious words. 2. Disposed to arouse, or take part in, violent opposition to lawful authority; turbulent; factious; guilty of sedition; as, seditious citizens. -- Se*di"tious*ly, adv. -- Se*di"tious*ness, n.

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Sen 27865 Abdul Ghani’s mutinous betrayal was finally defeated.
1033 humblest prev next

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Sen 1372 Its chief splendour was truly admired by none but its humblest workers, however, for it was only when the bar was closed, and the cleaners removed all the furniture each morning, that the beauty of the floor was exposed.
1034 entendre prev next

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Sen 1754 I told him once he’s so shallow that the best he can manage is a single entendre.
1035 affluence prev next
Definition
1. A flowing to or towards; a concourse; an influx. The affluence of young nobles from hence into Spain. Wotton. There is an unusual affluence of strangers this year. Carlyle. 2. An abundant supply, as of thought, words, feelings, etc.; profusion; also, abundance of property; wealth. And old age of elegance, affluence, and ease. Coldsmith. Syn. -- Abundance; riches; profusion; exuberance; plenty; wealth; opulence. "opulence": Wealth; riches; affluence. Swift "profusion": 1. The act of one who is profuse; a lavishing or pouring out without sting. Thy vast profusion to the factious nobles Rowe. 2. Abundance; exuberant plenty; lavish supply; as, a profusion of commodities. Addison.

Difficulty: 16.54
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Sen 5390 A six-lane road separated the seaside path from a horizon-wide, incurving crescent of affluence: fine homes, expensive apartments, consular offices, first-class restaurants, and hotels that looked out over the black and heaving sea.
1036 workmates prev next

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Sen 7269 The one entertainment he allowed himself was a trip to the cheapest cinema, with his workmates, once a week.
1037 typeface prev next

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Sen 8786 I opened it out and read through the four paragraphs of large, bold typeface.
1038 wrest prev next
Definition
1. To turn; to twist; esp., to twist or extort by violence; to pull of force away by, or as if by, violent wringing or twisting. "The secret wrested from me." Milton. Our country's cause, That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from our hand. Addison. They instantly wrested the government out of the hands of Hastings. Macaulay. 2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort. Wrest once the law to your authority. Shak. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. Ex. xxiii. 6. Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false interpreting the holy text. South. 3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.] 1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion. Hooker. 2. Active or moving power. [Obs.] Spenser. 3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music. The minstrel . . . wore round his neck a silver chain, by which hung the wrest, or key, with which he tuned his harp. Sir W. Scott. 4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the buckets is determined. Wrest pin (Piano Manuf.), one of the pins around which the ends of the wires are wound in a piano. Knight. -- Wrest plank (Piano Manuf.), the part in which the wrest pins are inserted. "wringing": a. & n. from Wring, v. Wringing machine, a wringer. See Wringer, 2. "stringed": 1. Having strings; as, a stringed instrument. Ps. cl. 4. 2. Produced by strings. "Answering the stringed noise." Milton.

Difficulty: 16.54
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Sen 12440 His hands grasped the plate near my own, and we both pulled, but neither of us had the gross strength to wrest it away.
1039 allusion prev next
Definition
1. A figurative or symbolical reference. [Obs.] 2. A reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned; a covert indication; indirect reference; a hint. "figurative": 1. Representing by a figure, or by resemblance; typical; representative. This, they will say, was figurative, and served, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity. Hooker. 2. Used in a sense that is tropical, as a metaphor; not literal; -- applied to words and expressions. 3. Ambounding in figures of speech; flowery; florid; as, a highly figurative description. 4. Relating to the representation of form or figure by drawing, carving, etc. See Figure, n., 2. They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form. J. A. Symonds. Figurative counterpointdescant. See under Figurate. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ly, adv. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ness, n. "symbolical": Of or pertaining to a symbol or symbols; of the nature of a symbol; exhibiting or expressing by resemblance or signs; representative; as, the figure of an eye is symbolic of sight and knowledge. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ness, n. The sacrament is a representation of Christ's death by such symbolical actions as he himself appointed. Jer. Taylor. Symbolical delivery (Law), the delivery of property sold by delivering something else as a symbol, token, or representative of it. Bouvier. Chitty. -- Symbolical philosophy, the philosophy expressed by hieroglyphics.

Difficulty: 16.54
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Sen 15178 I turned, slowly, to stare at her, searching in the faint light for some hint of spite, some hidden meaning or allusion in the question.
1040 titillating prev next
Definition  (titillate)
To tickle; as, to titillate the nose with a feather. The pungent grains of titillating dust. Pope.

Difficulty: 16.54
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Sen 19076 Encouraged by that febrile curiosity, Cliff De Souza spun out yarns about the Bollywood stars, and Chandra Mehta added titillating ruffles of gossip throughout.
1041 amphitheatre prev next
Definition
1. An oval or circular building with rising tiers of seats about an open space called the arena. Note: The Romans first constructed amphitheaters for combats of gladiators and wild beasts. 2. Anything resembling an amphitheater in form; as, a level surrounded by rising slopes or hills, or a rising gallery in a theater. "amphitheater": 1. An oval or circular building with rising tiers of seats about an open space called the arena. Note: The Romans first constructed amphitheaters for combats of gladiators and wild beasts. 2. Anything resembling an amphitheater in form; as, a level surrounded by rising slopes or hills, or a rising gallery in a theater.

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Sen 20866 The Imperial Staff College for military officers in British India was established there, and a thriving, prosperous marketcentre grew up in the spectacular, natural amphitheatre of the surrounding mountains.
1042 perversities prev next
Definition  (perversity)
The quality or state of being perverse; perverseness. "perverseness": The quality or state of being perverse. "Virtue hath some perverseness." Donne.

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Sen 23664 And in one of those perversities of the pitying heart, I found myself feeling sorry for Habib.
1043 allusions prev next
Definition  (allusion)
1. A figurative or symbolical reference. [Obs.] 2. A reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned; a covert indication; indirect reference; a hint. "figurative": 1. Representing by a figure, or by resemblance; typical; representative. This, they will say, was figurative, and served, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity. Hooker. 2. Used in a sense that is tropical, as a metaphor; not literal; -- applied to words and expressions. 3. Ambounding in figures of speech; flowery; florid; as, a highly figurative description. 4. Relating to the representation of form or figure by drawing, carving, etc. See Figure, n., 2. They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form. J. A. Symonds. Figurative counterpointdescant. See under Figurate. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ly, adv. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ness, n. "symbolical": Of or pertaining to a symbol or symbols; of the nature of a symbol; exhibiting or expressing by resemblance or signs; representative; as, the figure of an eye is symbolic of sight and knowledge. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ness, n. The sacrament is a representation of Christ's death by such symbolical actions as he himself appointed. Jer. Taylor. Symbolical delivery (Law), the delivery of property sold by delivering something else as a symbol, token, or representative of it. Bouvier. Chitty. -- Symbolical philosophy, the philosophy expressed by hieroglyphics.

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Sen 26316 They were deeply moving in their beauty, for the first few stanzas, but always found their way into sexual descriptions and allusions so perverse and abhorrent that strong, wicked men winced to hear them.
1044 disfigurement prev next
Definition
1. Act of disfiguring, or state of being disfigured; deformity. Milton. 2. That which disfigures; a defacement; a blot. Uncommon expressions . . . are a disfigurement rather than any embellishment of discourse. Hume. "defacement": 1. The act of defacing, or the condition of being defaced; injury to the surface or exterior; obliteration. 2. That which mars or disfigures. Bacon. "embellishment": 1. The act of adorning, or the state of being adorned; adornment. In the selection of their ground, as well as in the embellishment of it. Prescott. 2. That which adds beauty or elegance; ornament; decoration; as, pictorial embellishments. The graces and embellishments of the exterior man. I. Taylor.

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Sen 26462 It was a monstrous mutilation; a disfigurement so calculated in its cruelty that I felt numbed by it and unable to respond.
1045 aghast prev next
Definition
To affright; to terrify. [Obs.] Chaucer. Spenser. See Agast, v. t. [Obs.] Terrified; struck with amazement; showing signs of terror or horror. Aghast he waked; and, starting from his bed, Cold sweat in clammy drops his limbs o'erspread. Dryden. The commissioners read and stood aghast. Macaulay. "affright": To impress with sudden fear; to frighten; to alarm. Dreams affright our souls. Shak. A drear and dying sound Affrights the flamens at their service quaint. Milton. Syn. -- To terrify; frighten; alarm; dismay; appall; scare; startle; daunt; intimidate. Affrighted. [Obs.] Chaucer. 1. Sudden and great fear; terror. It expresses a stronger impression than fear, or apprehension, perhaps less than terror. He looks behind him with affright, and forward with despair. Goldsmith. 2. The act of frightening; also, a cause of terror; an object of dread. B. Jonson. "agast": See Aghast. To affright; to terrify. [Obs.] Chaucer. Spenser.

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Sen 27182 The few foreigners I’d taken to the slum—and even the Indians, such as Kavita Singh and Vikram, who’d visited me there—had been horrified by the place and aghast to think that I’d chosen to stay there so long.
1046 stonemasons prev next

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Sen 8367 There was an alleyway on the right-hand side of the building, and the stonemasons had lavished their handiwork on the quoin—every second stone from the ground to below the eaves was faceted like a jewel.
1047 statehood prev next
Definition
The condition of being a State; as, a territory seeking Statehood.

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Sen 13530 Although still devoted to the cause of Palestinian statehood in his words, he was in fact lost to any cause but the suffering he’d endured and the suffering he lived to inflict.
1048 gawping prev next

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Sen 16854 By the time I came to Bombay, the eye contact ranged from an ogling gaze to a gawping, goggle-eyed glare.
1049 stonemason prev next

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Sen 23810 Mazdur Gul, the stonemason, whose name means labourer, and whose hands were permanently grey-white from decades of work with granite … Daoud, who liked to be called by the English version of his name, David, and whose dream it was to visit the great city of New York and eat a meal in a fine restaurant … Zamaanat, whose name means trust, and whose brave smile concealed the agony of shame he’d felt that his whole family lived in hungry squalor at Jalozai, a huge refugee camp near Peshawar … Hajji Akbar, who’d been appointed as the doctor in the unit for no other reason than that he’d once spent two months as a patient in a Kabul hospital, and who’d greeted my acceptance of the doctor’s job, when I arrived at the mountain camp, with prayers and a little Dervish dance of joy … Alef, the mischievously satirical Pashtun trader, who died crawling in the snow with his back torn open and his clothes on fire … Juma and Hanif, the two wild boys who were killed by the madman Habib … Jalalaad, their fearless young friend, who died in the last charge … Ala-ud-Din, whose name in English is shortened to Aladdin, and who escaped unscathed … Suleiman Shahbadi, of the furrowed brow and sorrowing eyes, who died leading us into the guns.
1050 firelight prev next

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Sen 28336 For a moment I let myself imagine how those green eyes must’ve blazed with firelight as she’d watched the Palace burn.
1051 unfurl prev next
Definition
To loose from a furled state; to unfold; to expand; to open or spread; as, to unfurl sails; to unfurl a flag.

Difficulty: 16.52
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Sen 4418 A man can make his way in the city with his heart and his soul crushed within a clenched fist; but to live in a village, he has to unfurl his heart and his soul in his eyes.
1052 cavernous prev next
Definition
1. Full of caverns; resembling a cavern or large cavity; hollow. 2. Filled with small cavities or cells. 3. Having a sound caused by a cavity. Cavernous body, a body of erectile tissue with large interspaces which may be distended with blood, as in the penis or clitoris. -- Cavernous respiration, a peculiar respiratory sound andible on auscultation, when the bronchial tubes communicate with morbid cavities in the lungs. "auscultation": 1. The act of listening or hearkening to. Hickes. 2. (Med.) An examination by listening either directly with the ear (immediate auscultation) applied to parts of the body, as the abdomen; or with the stethoscope (mediate ~), in order to distinguish sounds recognized as a sign of health or of disease. "bronchial": Belonging to the bronchi and their ramifications in the lungs. Bronchial arteries, branches of the descending aorta, accompanying the bronchia in all their ramifications. -- Bronchial cells, the air cells terminating the bronchia. -- Bronchial glands, glands whose functions are unknown, seated along the bronchia. -- Bronchial membrane, the mucous membrane lining the bronchia. -- Bronchial tube, the bronchi, or the bronchia.

Difficulty: 16.52
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Sen 7615 It was a vast, cavernous space, divided by equidistant columns and canopied by a flat, concrete ceiling adorned with a creepery of cables.
1053 mandarins prev next

Difficulty: 16.52
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Sen 17391 Abdul’s agents in South America, Asia, and Africa established contact with embezzlers, torturers, mandarins, and martinets who’d supported fallen tyrannies.
1054 enrages prev next
Definition  (enrage)
To fill with rage; to provoke to frenzy or madness; to make furious. Syn. -- To irritate; incense; inflame; exasperate; provoke; anger; madden; infuriate. "exasperate": Exasperated; imbittered. [Obs.] Shak. Like swallows which the exasperate dying year Sets spinning. Mrs. Browning. 1. To irritate in a high degree; to provoke; to enrage; to exscite or to inflame the anger of; as, to exasperate a person or his feelings. To exsasperate them against the king of France. Addison. 2. To make grievous, or more grievous or malignant; to aggravate; to imbitter; as, to exasperate enmity. To exasperate the ways of death. Sir T. Browne. Syn. -- To irritate; provoke. See Irritate. "infuriate": Enraged; rading; furiously angry; infuriated. Milton. Inflamed beyond the most infuriate wrath. Thomson. To render furious; to enrage; to exasperate. Those curls of entangled snakes with which Erinys is said to have infuriated Athemas and Ino. Dr. H. More.

Difficulty: 16.51
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Sen 13112 I’d learned the hard way that it’s wise to keep silent when prison authorities abuse their power: everything you do enrages them, and everything you say makes it worse.
1055 predictability prev next

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Sen 13983 That is the extent of his reliability, I am afraid, but in these things he does show a marvellous predictability.
1056 profiteer prev next

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Sen 14582 The contrast between those rusted, graceless hulks and the elegant wooden boats beside them spoke a history, a modern saga, a world story that moved from life at sea, as a romantic calling, to the profiteer’s cold, efficient lusting for the bottom line.
1057 quarrelsome prev next
Definition
Apt or disposed to quarrel; given to brawls and contention; easily irritated or provoked to contest; irascible; choleric. Syn. -- Pugnacious; irritable; irascible; brawling; choleric; fiery; petulant. -- Quar"rel*some*ly, adv. -- Quar"rel*some*ness, n. "irascible": Prone to anger; easily provoked or inflamed to anger; choleric; irritable; as, an irascible man; an irascible temper or mood. -- I*ras"ci*ble*ness, n. -- I*ras"ci*bly, adv. "choleric": 1. Abounding with, or producing choler, or bile. Dryden. 2. Easily irritated; irascible; inclined to anger. 3. Angry; indicating anger; excited by anger. "Choleric speech." Sir W. Raleigh. Choleric temperament, the bilious temperament. "quar": A quarry. [Prov. Eng.] B. Jonson. "pugnacious": Disposed to fight; inclined to fighting; quarrelsome; fighting. --Pug*na"cious*ly, adv. -- Pug*na"cious*ness, n.

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Sen 27330 His son Satish, who’d been sullen and quarrelsome for a time after his mother’s death, had at last overcome the aloofness of grieving, and was engaged to a girl he’d known since his earliest memory in the slum.
1058 unverifiable prev next
Definition  (verifiable)
Capable of being verified; confirmable. Bp. Hall. "confirmable": That may be confirmed.

Difficulty: 16.50
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Sen 8035 People said she was Russian, but that detail, like all the others concerning her private life, seemed to be unverifiable.
1059 skulked prev next
Definition  (skulk)
To hide, or get out of the way, in a sneaking manner; to lie close, or to move in a furtive way; to lurk. "Want skulks in holes and crevices." W. C. Bryant. Discovered and defeated of your prey, You skulked behind the fence, and sneaked away. Dryden. A number of foxes together. Wright. One who, or that which, skulks. "furtive": Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. A hasty and furtive ceremony. Hallam.

Difficulty: 16.50
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11756 The devil, they say, is in the details, and I knew well the devils that lurked and skulked in the details of my own story.
1060 forbearance prev next
Definition
The act of forbearing or waiting; the exercise of patience. He soon shall findForbearance no acquittance ere day end. Milton. 2. The quality of being forbearing; indulgence toward offenders or enemies; long-suffering. Have a continent forbearance, till the speed of his rage goeShak. Syn. -- Abstinence; refraining; lenity; mildness. "forbearing": Disposed or accustomed to forbear; patient; long-suffering. -- For*bear"ing*ly, adv. "mildness": The quality or state of being mild; as, mildness of temper; the mildness of the winter. "lenity": The state or quality of being lenient; mildness of temper or disposition; gentleness of treatment; softness; tenderness; clemency; -- opposed to severity and rigor. His exceeding lenity disposes us to be somewhat too severe. Macaulay. Syn. -- Gentleness; kindness; tenderness; softness; humanity; clemency; mercy. "acquittance": 1. The clearing off of debt or obligation; a release or discharge from debt or other liability. 2. A writing which is evidence of a discharge; a receipt in full, which bars a further demand. You can produce acquittances For such a sum, from special officers. Shak. To acquit. [Obs.] Shak.

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Sen 14820 With inexhaustible forbearance, he’d taught me everything that he thought I needed to know about gold and the smuggler’s arts.
1061 vaguest prev next

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Sen 18925 I’d travelled to Zaïre, Mauritius, and Singapore on forged passports without raising the vaguest suspicion.
1062 concho prev next

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Sen 11825 His belt was made from American silver dollar coins linked one to the other and fastened with a domed concho as a belt buckle.
1063 balked prev next
Definition  (balk)
1. A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside. Bad plowmen made balks of such ground. Fuller. 2. A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks." Tubs hanging in the balks. Chaucer. 3. (Mil.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge. 4. A hindrance or disappointment; a check. A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker. South. 5. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure. 6. (Baseball) A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. Balk line (Billiards), a line across a billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game. 1. To leave or make balks in. [Obs.] Gower. 2. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. [Obs.] Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see. Shak. 3. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. [Obs.] 4. To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. [Obs. or Obsolescent] By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the Evelyn. Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat. Bp. Hall. Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth. Drayton. 5. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to as, to balk expectation. They shall not balk my entrance. Byron. 1. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. [Obs.] In strifeful terms with him to balk. Spenser. 2. To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks. Note: This has been regarded as an Americanism, but it occurs in Spenser's "Faërie Queene," Book IV., 10, xxv. Ne ever ought but of their true loves talkt, Ne ever for rebuke or blame of any balkt. To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring. "americanism": 1. Attachment to the United States. 2. A custom peculiar to the United States or to America; an American characteristic or idea. 3. A word or phrase peculiar to the United States. "bateau": A boat; esp. a flat-bottomed, clumsy boat used on the Canadian lakes and rivers. [Written also, but less properly, batteau.] Bateau bridge, a floating bridge supported by bateaux. "rafter": A raftsman. Originally, any rough and somewhat heavy piece of timber. Now, commonly, one of the timbers of a roof which are put on sloping, according to the inclination of the roof. See Illust. of Queen-post. [Courtesy] oft is sooner found in lowly sheds, With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls. Milton. 1. To make into rafters, as timber. 2. To furnish with rafters, as a house. 3. (Agric.) To plow so as to turn the grass side of each furrow upon an unplowed ridge; to ridge. [Eng.] "trestle": 1. A movable frame or support for anything, as scaffolding, consisting of three or four legs secured to a top piece, and forming a sort of stool or horse, used by carpenters, masons, and other workmen; also, a kind of framework of strong posts or piles, and crossbeams, for supporting a bridge, the track of a railway, or the like. 2. The frame of a table. Trestle board, a board used by architects, draughtsmen, and the like, for drawing designs upon; -- so called because commonly supported by trestles. -- Trestle bridge. See under Bridge, n. "strifeful": Contentious; discordant. The ape was strifeful and ambitious. Spenser. "baffle": 1. To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight. [Obs.] He by the heels him hung upon a tree, And baffled so, that all which passed by The picture of his punishment might see. Spenser. 2. To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil. The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim. Cowper. 3. To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart. "A baffled purpose." De Quincey. A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all. South. Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened nations. Prescott. The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us. Locke. Baffling wind (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one point to another. Syn. -- To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat. 1. To practice deceit. [Obs.] Barrow. 2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. [R.] A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] "A baffle to philosophy." South. "obsolescent": Going out of use; becoming obsolete; passing into desuetude. "frustrate": Vain; ineffectual; useless; unprofitable; null; voil; nugatory; of no effect. "Our frustrate search." Shak. 1. To bring to nothing; to prevent from attaining a purpose; to disappoint; to defeat; to baffle; as, to frustrate a plan, design, or attempt; to frustrate the will or purpose. Shall the adversary thus obtain His end and frustrate thine Milton. 2. To make null; to nullifly; to render invalid or of no effect; as, to frustrate a conveyance or deed. Syn. -- To balk; thwart; foil; baffle; defeat.

Difficulty: 16.50
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16503 The hired thugs surrendered that much information, but then they balked.
1064 balks prev next
Definition  (balk)
1. A ridge of land left unplowed between furrows, or at the end of a field; a piece missed by the plow slipping aside. Bad plowmen made balks of such ground. Fuller. 2. A great beam, rafter, or timber; esp., the tie-beam of a house. The loft above was called "the balks." Tubs hanging in the balks. Chaucer. 3. (Mil.) One of the beams connecting the successive supports of a trestle bridge or bateau bridge. 4. A hindrance or disappointment; a check. A balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker. South. 5. A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure. 6. (Baseball) A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. Balk line (Billiards), a line across a billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game. 1. To leave or make balks in. [Obs.] Gower. 2. To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles. [Obs.] Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see. Shak. 3. To omit, miss, or overlook by chance. [Obs.] 4. To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. [Obs. or Obsolescent] By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the Evelyn. Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat. Bp. Hall. Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth. Drayton. 5. To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to as, to balk expectation. They shall not balk my entrance. Byron. 1. To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition. [Obs.] In strifeful terms with him to balk. Spenser. 2. To stop abruptly and stand still obstinately; to jib; to stop short; to swerve; as, the horse balks. Note: This has been regarded as an Americanism, but it occurs in Spenser's "Faërie Queene," Book IV., 10, xxv. Ne ever ought but of their true loves talkt, Ne ever for rebuke or blame of any balkt. To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring. "americanism": 1. Attachment to the United States. 2. A custom peculiar to the United States or to America; an American characteristic or idea. 3. A word or phrase peculiar to the United States. "bateau": A boat; esp. a flat-bottomed, clumsy boat used on the Canadian lakes and rivers. [Written also, but less properly, batteau.] Bateau bridge, a floating bridge supported by bateaux. "rafter": A raftsman. Originally, any rough and somewhat heavy piece of timber. Now, commonly, one of the timbers of a roof which are put on sloping, according to the inclination of the roof. See Illust. of Queen-post. [Courtesy] oft is sooner found in lowly sheds, With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls. Milton. 1. To make into rafters, as timber. 2. To furnish with rafters, as a house. 3. (Agric.) To plow so as to turn the grass side of each furrow upon an unplowed ridge; to ridge. [Eng.] "trestle": 1. A movable frame or support for anything, as scaffolding, consisting of three or four legs secured to a top piece, and forming a sort of stool or horse, used by carpenters, masons, and other workmen; also, a kind of framework of strong posts or piles, and crossbeams, for supporting a bridge, the track of a railway, or the like. 2. The frame of a table. Trestle board, a board used by architects, draughtsmen, and the like, for drawing designs upon; -- so called because commonly supported by trestles. -- Trestle bridge. See under Bridge, n. "strifeful": Contentious; discordant. The ape was strifeful and ambitious. Spenser. "baffle": 1. To cause to undergo a disgraceful punishment, as a recreant knight. [Obs.] He by the heels him hung upon a tree, And baffled so, that all which passed by The picture of his punishment might see. Spenser. 2. To check by shifts and turns; to elude; to foil. The art that baffles time's tyrannic claim. Cowper. 3. To check by perplexing; to disconcert, frustrate, or defeat; to thwart. "A baffled purpose." De Quincey. A suitable scripture ready to repel and baffle them all. South. Calculations so difficult as to have baffled, until within a . . . recent period, the most enlightened nations. Prescott. The mere intricacy of a question should not baffle us. Locke. Baffling wind (Naut.), one that frequently shifts from one point to another. Syn. -- To balk; thwart; foil; frustrate; defeat. 1. To practice deceit. [Obs.] Barrow. 2. To struggle against in vain; as, a ship baffles with the winds. [R.] A defeat by artifice, shifts, and turns; discomfiture. [R.] "A baffle to philosophy." South. "obsolescent": Going out of use; becoming obsolete; passing into desuetude. "frustrate": Vain; ineffectual; useless; unprofitable; null; voil; nugatory; of no effect. "Our frustrate search." Shak. 1. To bring to nothing; to prevent from attaining a purpose; to disappoint; to defeat; to baffle; as, to frustrate a plan, design, or attempt; to frustrate the will or purpose. Shall the adversary thus obtain His end and frustrate thine Milton. 2. To make null; to nullifly; to render invalid or of no effect; as, to frustrate a conveyance or deed. Syn. -- To balk; thwart; foil; baffle; defeat.

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Sen 17235 Anyway, his wife balks at this, understand-ably, but Rasheed convinces her, and she goes off to have the operation.’
1065 burdensome prev next
Definition
Grievous to be borne; causing uneasiness or fatigue; oppressive. The debt immense of endless gratitude So burdensome. Milton. Syn. -- Heavy; weighty; cumbersome; onerous; grievous; oppressive; troublesome. -- Bur"den*some*ly, adv. -- Bur"den*some*ness, n. "bur": 1. (Bot.) Any rough or prickly envelope of the seeds of plants, whether a pericarp, a persistent calyx, or an involucre, as of the chestnut and burdock. Also, any weed which bears burs. Amongst rude burs and thistles. Milton. Bur and brake and brier. Tennyson. 2. The thin ridge left by a tool in cutting or shaping metal. See Burr, n., 2. 3. A ring of iron on a lance or spear. See Burr, n., 4. 4. The lobe of the ear. See Burr, n., 5. 5. The sweetbread. 6. A clinker; a partially vitrified brick. 7. (Mech.) (a) A small circular saw. (b) A triangular chisel. (c) A drill with a serrated head larger than the shank; -- used by dentists. 8. Etym: [Cf. Gael. borr, borra, a knob, bunch.] (Zoöl.) The round knob of an antler next to a deer's head. [Commonly written burr.] Bur oak (Bot.), a useful and ornamental species of oak (Quercus macrocarpa) with ovoid acorns inclosed in deep cups imbricated with pointed scales. It grows in the Middle and Western United States, and its wood is tough, close-grained, and durable. -- Bur reed (Bot.), a plant of the genus Sparganium, having long ribbonlike leaves. "onerous": Burdensome; oppressive. "Too onerous a solicitude." I. Taylor. Onerous cause (Scots Law), a good and legal consideration; -- opposed to gratuitous. "weighty": 1. Having weight; heavy; ponderous; as, a weighty body. 2. Adapted to turn the balance in the mind, or to convince; important; forcible; serious; momentous. "For sundry weighty reasons." Shak. Let me have your advice in a weighty affair. Swift. 3. Rigorous; severe; afflictive. [R.] "Attend our weightier judgment." Shak. Syn. -- Heavy; ponderous; burdensome; onerous; forcible; momentous; efficacious; impressive; cogent. WEIL'S DISEASE Weil's disease. (Med.) An acute infectious febrile disease, resembling typhoid fever, with muscular pains, disturbance of the digestive organs, jaundice, etc. "uneasiness": 1. The quality or state of being uneasy; restlessness; disquietude; anxiety. 2. The quality of making uneasy; discomfort; as, the uneasiness of the road. [Obs.] Bp. Burnet.

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Sen 26321 And Taj Raj, the helpful passer-by, assisted both of them to their feet, and relieved the foreigner of his burdensome wallet.
1066 waggled prev next
Definition  (waggle)
To reel, sway, or move from side to side; to move with a wagging motion; to waddle. Why do you go nodding and waggling so L'Estrange. To move frequently one way and the other; to wag; as, a bird waggles his tail.

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Sen 27243 When it was clear, and such a hawker’s cart was found and wheeled into the clearing, the bear-handlers waggled their heads excitedly that yes, yes, yes, Kano would sit on such a moving table.
1067 cajolery prev next
Definition
A wheedling to delude; words used in cajoling; flattery. "Infamous cajoleries." Evelyn.

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Sen 2395 He raised the palms of his hands to stop Prabaker’s wheedling cajolery.
1068 demarcations prev next
Definition  (demarcation)
The act of marking, or of ascertaining and setting a limit; separation; distinction. The speculative line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end and resistance must begin, is faint, obscure, and not easily definable. Burke. "definable": Capable of being defined, limited, or explained; determinable; describable by definition; ascertainable; as, definable limits; definable distinctions or regulations; definable words. -- De*fin"a*bly, adv.

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Sen 6148 But after a while I realised that the demarcations, like so many other long and short lines of division in the complex, culturally polyglot city, were not as rigid as they’d seemed.
1069 cajoling prev next
Definition  (cajole)
To deceive with flattery or fair words; to wheedle. I am not about to cajole or flatter you into a reception of my views. F. W. Robertson. Syn. -- To flatter; wheedle; delude; coax; entrap. "entrap": To catch in a trap; to insnare; hence, to catch, as in a trap, by artifices; to involve in difficulties or distresses; to catch or involve in contradictions; as, to be entrapped by the devices of evil men. A golden mesh, to entrap the hearts of men. Shak. Syn. -- To insnare; inveigle; tangle; decoy; entangle. "wheedle": 1. To entice by soft words; to cajole; to flatter; to coax. The unlucky art of wheedling fools. Dryden. And wheedle a world that loves him not. Tennyson. 2. To grain, or get away, by flattery. A deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedled out of her. Congreve. To flatter; to coax; to cajole.

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Sen 6749 They forced the second bottle on him, roughly insistent, but cajoling him with jokes and pats on the back.
1070 handrails prev next

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Sen 8394 We climbed the wide stairs to the second floor, our footsteps swallowed by thick carpet and heavy teakwood newels and handrails.
1071 fatuous prev next
Definition
1. Feeble in mind; weak; silly; stupid; foolish; fatuitous. Glanvill. 2. Without reality; illusory, like the ignis fatuus. Thence fatuous fires and meteors take their birth. Danham. "fatuitous": Stupid; fatuous. "illusory": Deceiving, or tending of deceive; fallacious; illusive; as, illusory promises or hopes.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8816 I mean, it’s so ridiculous, so fatuous, it’s hard to take it seriously.’
1072 cajoled prev next
Definition  (cajole)
To deceive with flattery or fair words; to wheedle. I am not about to cajole or flatter you into a reception of my views. F. W. Robertson. Syn. -- To flatter; wheedle; delude; coax; entrap. "entrap": To catch in a trap; to insnare; hence, to catch, as in a trap, by artifices; to involve in difficulties or distresses; to catch or involve in contradictions; as, to be entrapped by the devices of evil men. A golden mesh, to entrap the hearts of men. Shak. Syn. -- To insnare; inveigle; tangle; decoy; entangle. "wheedle": 1. To entice by soft words; to cajole; to flatter; to coax. The unlucky art of wheedling fools. Dryden. And wheedle a world that loves him not. Tennyson. 2. To grain, or get away, by flattery. A deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedled out of her. Congreve. To flatter; to coax; to cajole.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9112 Khaled Fattah said nothing more, despite the artful urgings of Abdul Ghani, who teased and cajoled him several times before finally giving up the attempt, visibly piqued by the stubborn refusal.
1073 wellspring prev next
Definition
A fountain; a spring; a source of continual supply. Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it; but the instruction of fools is folly. Prov. xvi. 22.

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Sen 9634 He brought her the truth of his brave heart, and the mischievous, awe-struck wonder that was the wellspring of his laughter, and of that sky-wide smile.
1074 centrepiece prev next
Definition
An ornament to be placed in the center, as of a table, ceiling, atc.; a central article or figure.

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Sen 9687 The fountain that I’d heard from the meeting room, where we’d talked about suffering, was the centrepiece.
1075 dartboards prev next

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Sen 18919 ‘The hotel,’ the driver said, sliding his glasses down over the dartboards of his eyes.
1076 conscripts prev next
Definition  (conscript)
Enrolled; written; registered. Conscript fathers (Rom. Antiq.), the senators of ancient Rome. When certain new senators were first enrolled with the "fathers" the body was called Patres et Conscripti; afterward all were called Patres conscripti. One taken by lot, or compulsorily enrolled, to serve as a soldier or sailor. To enroll, by compulsion, for military service. "compulsorily": ; by force or constraint.

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Sen 22971 The soldiers and even the officers of the Afghan army, however, were a different matter: they were kinsmen, many of them conscripts, doing what they had to do in order to survive.
1077 thatched prev next
Definition  (thatch)
1. Straw, rushes, or the like, used for making or covering the roofs of buildings, or of stacks of hay or grain. 2. (Bot.) A name in the West Indies for several kinds of palm, the leaves of which are used for thatching. Thatch sparrow, the house sparrow. [Prov. Eng.] To cover with, or with a roof of, straw, reeds, or some similar substance; as, to thatch a roof, a stable, or a stack of grain. "thatching": 1. The act or art of covering buildings with thatch; so as to keep out rain, snow, etc. 2. The materials used for this purpose; thatch.

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Sen 3659 The roofs were made with little domes of thatched grasses.
1078 dialectic prev next
Definition
Same as Dialectics. Plato placed his dialectic above all sciences. Liddell & Scott. 1. Pertaining to dialectics; logical; argumental. 2. Pertaining to a dialect or to dialects. Earle. "argumental": Of, pertaining to, or containing, argument; argumentative. "dialectics": That branch of logic which teaches the rules and modes of reasoning; the application of logical principles to discursive reasoning; the science or art of discriminating truth from error; logical discussion. Note: Dialectics was defined by Aristotle to be the method of arguing with probability on any given problem, and of defending a tenet without inconsistency. By Plato, it was used in the following senses: 1. Discussion by dialogue as a method of scientific investigation. 2. The method of investigating the truth by analysis. 3. The science of ideas or of the nature and laws of being -- higher metaphysics. By Kant, it was employed to signify the logic of appearances or illusions, whether these arise from accident or error, or from those necessary limitations which, according to this philosopher, originate in the constitution of the human intellect.

Difficulty: 16.47
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 1379 Yet a peculiar dialectic applied to the relationships between upstairs and down, inside and outside the restaurant, and governed all of the business transacted there.
1079 acolyte prev next
Definition
1. (Eccl.) One who has received the highest of the four minor orders in the Catholic church, being ordained to carry the wine and water and the lights at the Mass. 2. One who attends; an assistant. "With such chiefs, and with James and John as acolytes." Motley.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4594 One of the Standing Babas approached us slowly with an acolyte who held a silver tray containing chillums, charras, and the paraphernalia of smoking.
1080 knobby prev next
Definition
1. Full of, or covered with, knobs or hard protuberances. Dr. H. More. 2. Irregular; stubborn in particulars. [Obs.] The informers continued in a knobby kind of obstinacy. Howell. 3. Abounding in rounded hills or mountains; hilly. [U.S.] Bartlett.

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Sen 6315 His lips and the lower part of his face were eaten away to a hard, knobby ridge of dark flesh that extended downwards from the cheeks to the hinges of his jaw.
1081 irreverently prev next
Definition
In an irreverent manner.

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Sen 9124 He was especially, irreverently, affectionate with Khaderbhai, and it was certain that they were close friends.
1082 arthritic prev next
Definition
1. Pertaining to the joints. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne. 2. Of or pertaining to arthritis; gouty. Cowper. "gouty": 1. Diseased with, or subject to, the gout; as, a gouty person; a gouty joint. 2. Pertaining to the gout. "Gouty matter." Blackmore. 3. Swollen, as if from gout. Derham. 4. Boggy; as, gouty land. [Obs.] Spenser. Gouty bronchitis, bronchitis arising as a secondary disease during the progress of gout. -- Gouty concretions, calculi (urate of sodium) formed in the joints, kidneys, etc., of sufferers from gout. -- Gouty kidney, an affection occurring during the progress of gout, the kidney shriveling and containing concretions of urate of sodium.

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Sen 20652 Khaled pressed a folded bank note into the man’s calloused, arthritic hand.
1083 irreverent prev next
Definition
Not reverent; showing a want of reverence; expressive of a want of veneration; as, an irreverent babbler; an irreverent jest. "reverent": 1. Disposed to revere; impressed with reverence; submissive; humble; respectful; as, reverent disciples. "They . . . prostrate fell before him reverent." Milton. 2. Expressing reverence, veneration, devotion, or submission; as, reverent words; reverent behavior. Joye. "babbler": 1. An idle talker; an irrational prater; a teller of secrets. Great babblers, or talkers, are not fit for trust. L'Estrange. 2. A hound too noisy on finding a good scent. 3. (Zoöl.) A name given to any one of family (Timalinæ) of thrushlike birds, having a chattering note.

Difficulty: 16.47
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Sen 23008 He’d been a favourite of Khaderbhai’s for his jokes and irreverent satires of pompous mullahs and local political figures.
1084 nameplate prev next

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Sen 370 He tossed the key and its heavy brass nameplate across the desk to me.
1085 coronets prev next
Definition  (coronet)
1. An ornamental or honorary headdress, having the shape and character of a crown; particularly, a crown worn as the mark of high rank lower than sovereignty. The word is used by Shakespeare to denote also a kingly crown. Without a star, a coronet, or garter. Goldsmith. Note: The coronet of the Prince of Wales consist of a circlet of gold with four crosses pattée around the edge between as many fleurs-de- lis. The center crosses are connected by an arch which is surmounted by a globe or cross. The coronet of a British duke is adorned with strawberry leaves; that of a marquis has leaves with pearls interposed; that of an earl raises the pearls above the leaves; that of a viscount is surrounded with pearls only; that of a baron has only four pearls. 2. (Far.) The upper part of a horse's hoof, where the horn terminates in skin. James White. 3. (Anc. Armor) The iron head of a tilting spear; a coronel. Crose. "circlet": 1. A little circle; esp., an ornament for the person, having the form of a circle; that which encircles, as a ring, a bracelet, or a headband. Her fair locks in circlet be enrolled. Spenser. 2. A round body; an orb. Pope. Fairest of stars . . . that crown'st the smiling morn With thy bright circlet. Milton. 3. A circular piece of wood put under a dish at table. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell. "coronel": A colonel. [Obs.] Spenser. The iron head of a tilting spear, divided into two, three, or four blunt points. [Written also cronel.] Grose. "denote": 1. To mark out plainly; to signify by a visible sign; to serve as the sign or name of; to indicate; to point out; as, the hands of the clock denote the hour. The better to denote her to the doctor. Shak. 2. To be the sign of; to betoken; to signify; to mean. A general expression to denote wickedness of every sort. Gilpin. "surmounted": 1. (Arch.) Having its vertical height greater than the half span; -- said of an arch. 2. (Her.) Partly covered by another charge; -- said of an ordinary or other bearing. "kingly": Belonging to, suitable to, or becoming, a king; characteristic of, resembling, a king; directed or administered by a king; monarchical; royal; sovereign; regal; august; noble; grand. "Kingly magnificence." Sir P. Sidney. "A kingly government." Swift. "The kingly couch." Shak. The kingliest kings are crowned with thorn. G. Massey. Leave kingly backs to cope with kingly cares. Cowper. Syn. -- Regal; royal; monarchical; imperial; august; sovereign; noble; splendid. -- Kingly, Regal. Kingly is Anglo-Saxon, and refers especially to the character of a king; regal is Latin, and now relates more to his office. The former is chiefly used of dispositions, feelings, and purposes which are kinglike; as, kingly sentiments; kingly condescension; " a kingly heart for enterprises." Sir P. Sidney. The latter is oftener applied to external state, pomp, etc.; as, regal state, regal title, etc. This distinction is not observed by our early writers, but is gaining ground. In a kingly or kinglike manner. Shak. Low bowed the rest; he, kingly, did but nod. Pore. Note: Although this citation, one from Paradise Lost, and one from Shakespeare's ll4th Sonnet are given by lexicographers as examples of adverbial use, it is by no means clear that the word is not an adjective in each instance.

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Sen 8365 The heavy stone architraves over the door and windows had been chiselled into coronets of five-pointed stars.
1086 anthologies prev next
Definition  (anthology)
1. A discourses on flowers. [R.] 2. A collection of flowers; a garland. [R.] 3. A collection of flowers of literature, that is, beautiful passages from authors; a collection of poems or epigrams; -- particularly applied to a collection of ancient Greek epigrams. 4. (Gr. Ch.) A service book containing a selection of pieces for the festival services.

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Sen 10279 Some had been copied out from selections and anthologies and even newspapers, with the source and the poet’s name written beneath.
1087 megalithic prev next

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Sen 7557 We’d reached the perimeter of the legal slum, and the megalithic immensity of the twin skyscrapers loomed before us.
1088 judiciousness prev next
Definition
The quality or state of being judicious; sagacity; s "sagacity": The quality of being sagacious; quickness or acuteness of sense perceptions; keenness of discernment or penetration with soundness of judgment; shrewdness. Some [brutes] show that nice sagacity of smell. Cowper. Natural sagacity improved by generous education. V. Knox. Syn. -- Penetration; shrewdness; judiciousness. -- Sagacity, Penetration. Penetration enables us to enter into the depths of an abstruse subject, to detect motives, plans, etc. Sagacity adds to penetration a keen, practical judgment, which enables one to guard against the designs of others, and to turn everything to the best possible advantage.

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Sen 17882 He inspired fear in most of the men and, not burdened with judiciousness, he confused that fear with respect.
1089 crevasse prev next
Definition
1. A deep crevice or fissure, as in embankment; one of the clefts or fissure by which the mass of a glacier is divided. 2. A breach in the levee or embankment of a river, caused by the pressure of the water, as on the lower Mississippi. [U.S.]

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Sen 21332 I put one set of fingertips on the edge of the stony path and then choked a scream as I slipped backwards into the dark crevasse.
1090 circumspect prev next
Definition
Attentive to all the circustances of a case or the probable consequences of an action; cautious; prudent; wary. Syn. -- See Cautious.

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Sen 1361 Mirrors on those pillars, and on much of the free wall space, provided the patrons with one of the bar’s major attractions: the chance to inspect, admire, and ogle others in a circumspect if not entirely anonymous fashion.
1091 vacuous prev next
Definition
Empty; unfilled; void; vacant. Boundless the deep, because I am who fill Infinitude; nor vacuous the space. Milton. That the few may lead selfish and vacuous days. J. Morley. "infinitude": 1. The quality or state of being infinite, or without limits; infiniteness. 2. Infinite extent; unlimited space; immensity; infinity. "I am who fill infinitude." Milton. As pleasing to the fancy, as speculations of eternity or infinitude are to the understanding. Addison. 3. Boundless number; countless multitude. "An infinitude of distinctions." Addison.

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Sen 2644 Lettie’s gaze was seductive, direct, self-assured, and sparkling with ironies and secrets, while Ulla’s wide blue eyes, for all the make-up and clothing of her professional sexuality, showed nothing but innocence—honest, vacuous innocence.
1092 imperceptibly prev next
Definition  (imperceptible)
Not perceptible; not to be apprehended or cognized by the souses; not discernible by the mind; not easily apprehended. Almost imperceptible to the touch. Dryden. Its operation is slow, and in some cases almost imperceptible. Burke. -- Im`per*cep"ti*ble*ness, n. -- Im`per*cep"ti*bly, adv. Their . . . subility and imperceptibleness. Sir M. Hale. "discernible": Capable of being discerned by the eye or the understanding; as, a star is discernible by the eye; the identity of difference of ideas is discernible by the understanding. The effect of the privations and sufferings . . . was discernible to the last in his temper and deportment. Macaulay. Syn. -- Perceptible; distinguishable; apparent; visible; evident; manifest. "perceptible": Capable of being perceived; cognizable; discernible; perceivable. With a perceptible blast of the air. Bacon. -- Per*cep"ti*ble*ness, n. -- Per*cep"ti*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.45
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Sen 9172 Two fingers on the child’s hands were joined, imperceptibly, to make just one thick finger between the index and middle fingers.
1093 dishearteningly prev next
Definition  (dishearten)
To discourage; to deprive of courage and hope; to depress the spirits of; to deject. Regiments . . . utterly disorganized and disheartened. Macaulay. Syn. -- To dispirit; discourage; depress; deject; deter; terrify. "deject": 1. To cast down. [Obs. or Archaic] Christ dejected himself even unto the hells. Udall. Sometimes she dejects her eyes in a seeming civility; and many mistake in her a cunning for a modest look. Fuller. 2. To cast down the spirits of; to dispirit; to discourage; to dishearten. Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind. Pope. Dejected. [Obs.] "dispirit": 1. To deprive of cheerful spirits; to depress the spirits of; to dishearten; to discourage. Not dispirited with my afflictions. Dryden. He has dispirited himself by a debauch. Collier. 2. To distill or infuse the spirit of. [Obs. or R.] This makes a man master of his learning, and dispirits the book into the scholar. Fuller. Syn. -- To dishearten; discourage; deject; damp; depress; cast down; intimidate; daunt; cow.

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Sen 19436 Whatever the reason, I felt dishearteningly alone in the city.
1094 imperceptible prev next
Definition
Not perceptible; not to be apprehended or cognized by the souses; not discernible by the mind; not easily apprehended. Almost imperceptible to the touch. Dryden. Its operation is slow, and in some cases almost imperceptible. Burke. -- Im`per*cep"ti*ble*ness, n. -- Im`per*cep"ti*bly, adv. Their . . . subility and imperceptibleness. Sir M. Hale. "discernible": Capable of being discerned by the eye or the understanding; as, a star is discernible by the eye; the identity of difference of ideas is discernible by the understanding. The effect of the privations and sufferings . . . was discernible to the last in his temper and deportment. Macaulay. Syn. -- Perceptible; distinguishable; apparent; visible; evident; manifest. "perceptible": Capable of being perceived; cognizable; discernible; perceivable. With a perceptible blast of the air. Bacon. -- Per*cep"ti*ble*ness, n. -- Per*cep"ti*bly, adv.

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Sen 22765 It was a gesture so subtle that it would’ve been imperceptible to an observer, but we both knew what we’d acknowledged and what we’d agreed upon with that little nod.
1095 immodesty prev next
Definition
Want of modesty, delicacy, or decent reserve; indecency. "A piece of immodesty." Pope.

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Sen 1635 If you will allow me the small immodesty, this makes him a truly remarkable individual, for I have met a great many interesting men in my life.’
1096 populous prev next
Definition
1. Abounding in people; full of inhabitants; containing many inhabitants in proportion to the extent of the country. Heaven, yet populous, retains Number sufficient to possess her realms. Milton. 2. Popular; famous. [Obs.] J. Webster. 3. Common; vulgar. [Obs.] Arden of Feversham. 4. Numerous; in large number. [Obs.] "The dust . . . raised by your populous troops." Shak. -- Pop"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Pop"u*lous*ness, n.

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Sen 8118 An orange banner hanging from the dashboard of the car proclaimed that the driver, like many others in Bombay, was from Uttar Pradesh, a large and populous state in India’s north-east.
1097 bronchial prev next
Definition
Belonging to the bronchi and their ramifications in the lungs. Bronchial arteries, branches of the descending aorta, accompanying the bronchia in all their ramifications. -- Bronchial cells, the air cells terminating the bronchia. -- Bronchial glands, glands whose functions are unknown, seated along the bronchia. -- Bronchial membrane, the mucous membrane lining the bronchia. -- Bronchial tube, the bronchi, or the bronchia. "mucous": 1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, mucus; slimy, ropy, or stringy, and lubricous; as, a mucous substance. 2. Secreting a slimy or mucigenous substance; as, the mucous membrane. Mucous membrane. (Anat.) See under Membrane. -- Mucous patches (Med.), elevated patches found in the mucous membranes of the mouth and anus, usually due to syphilis. -- Mucous tissue (Anat.), a form of connective tissue in an early stage of development, found in the umbilical cord and in the embryo, and also in certain tumors called myxomata. "bronchi": See Bronchus. "bronchia": The bronchial tubes which arise from the branching of the trachea, esp. the subdivision of the bronchi. Dunglison.

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Sen 8422 It was a gurgling, bronchial laugh.
1098 disembowel prev next
Definition
1. To take or let out the bowels or interior parts of; to eviscerate. Soon after their death, they are disemboweled. Cook. Roaring floods and cataracts that sweep From disemboweled earth the virgin gold. Thomson. 2. To take or draw from the body, as the web of a spider. [R.] "Her disemboweled web." J. Philips. "eviscerate": To take out the entrails of; to disembowel; to gut.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8853 ‘They’re supposed to love their enemies, not disembowel them!’
1099 marsupial prev next
Definition
1. (Zoöl.) Having a pouch for carrying the immature young; of or pertaining to the Marsupialia. 2. (Anat. & Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to a marsupium; as, the marsupial bones. Marsupial frog. (Zoöl.) See Nototrema. One of the Marsupialia. "marsupium": (a) The pouch, formed by a fold of the skin of the abdomen, in which marsupials carry their young; also, a pouch for similar use in other animals, as certain Crustacea. (b) The pecten in the eye of birds and reptiles. See Pecten. "marsupialia": A subclass of Mammalia, including nearly all the mammals of Australia and the adjacent islands, together with the opossums of America. They differ from ordinary mammals in having the corpus callosum very small, in being implacental, and in having their young born while very immature. The female generally carries the young for some time after birth in an external pouch, or marsupium. Called also Marsupiata. "nototrema": The pouched, or marsupial, frog of South America.

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Sen 238 The shorter man even removed his watch, and it, too, joined the currency, passport, and other valuables in the marsupial pouch of his underpants.
1100 infinitesimally prev next
Definition
By infinitesimals; in infinitely small quantities; in an infinitesimal degree.

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Sen 18650 Some things, like the background sound of a bird chirping as it passes your house in the evening, or a flower glimpsed out of the corner of an eye, have such an infinitesimally small effect that you can’t detect them.
1101 rucked prev next
Definition  (ruck)
A roc. [Obs. or prov. Eng.] Drayton. To draw into wrinkles or unsightly folds; to crease; as, to ruck up a carpet. Smart. A wrinkle or crease in a piece of cloth, or in needlework. To cower; to huddle together; to squat; to sit, as a hen on eggs. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Gower. South. The sheep that rouketh in the fold. Chaucer. 1. A heap; a rick. [Prov Eng. & Scot.] 2. The common sort, whether persons or things; as, the ruck in a horse race. [Colloq.] The ruck in society as a whole. Lond. Sat. Rev. "needlework": 1. Work executed with a needle; sewed work; sewing; embroidery; also, the business of a seamstress. 2. The combination of timber and plaster making the outside framework of some houses. "lond": Land. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Difficulty: 16.44
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23655 Habib’s pattu shawl was rucked up around his chest.
1102 scrawled prev next
Definition  (scrawl)
See Crawl. [Obs.] Latimer. To draw or mark awkwardly and irregularly; to write hastily and carelessly; to scratch; to scribble; as, to scrawl a letter. His name, scrawled by himself. Macaulay. To write unskillfully and inelegantly. Though with a golden pen you scrawl. Swift. Unskillful or inelegant writing; that which is unskillfully or inelegantly written. The left will make such a scrawl, that it will not be legible. Arbuthnot. You bid me write no more than a scrawl to you. Gray. "inelegantly": In an inelegant manner. "inelegant": Not elegant; deficient in beauty, polish, refinement, grave, or ornament; wanting in anything which correct taste requires. What order so contrived as not to mix Tastes, not well joined, inelegant. Milton. It renders style often obscure, always embarrassed and inelegant. Blair. "unskillful": 1. Not skillful; inexperienced; awkward; bungling; as, an unskillful surgeon or mechanic; an unskillful logician. 2. Lacking discernment; injudicious; ignorant. Though it make the unskillful laugh, can not but make the judicious grieve. Shak. -- Un*skill"ful*ly, adv. -- Un*skill"ful*ness, n. "irregularly": In an irregular manner.

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Sen 24594 The scrawled eyebrows were larger than the real ones.
1103 ingratiating prev next
Definition  (ingratiate)
1. To introduce or commend to the favor of another; to bring into favor; to insinuate; -- used reflexively, and followed by with before the person whose favor is sought. Lysimachus . . . ingratiated himself both with Philip and his pupil. Budgell. 2. To recommend; to render easy or agreeable; -- followed by to. [Obs.] Dr. J. Scott. What difficulty would it [the love of Christ] not ingratiate to us Hammond. To gain favor. [R.] Sir W. Temple.

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Sen 11509 For the two days while my neighbour Radha lay dying, I’d been ingratiating myself with tourist customers in their five-star hotel.
1104 populist prev next
Definition
A member of the People's party. -- Pop`u*lis"tic (#), a.

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Sen 17170 ‘You’re moving in powerful circles,’ I said, recalling photos of the populist politician.
1105 instinctual prev next

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Sen 1282 But even as a fugitive, writing was still a daily custom and part of my instinctual routine.
1106 encompassing prev next
Definition  (encompass)
To circumscribe or go round so as to surround closely; to encircle; to inclose; to environ; as, a ring encompasses the finger; an army encompasses a city; a voyage encompassing the world. Shak. A question may be encompassed with difficulty. C. J. Smith. The love of all thy sons encompass thee. Tennyson. Syn. -- To encircle; inclose; surround; include; environ; invest; hem in; shut up. "encircle": To form a circle about; to inclose within a circle or ring; to surround; as, to encircle one in the arms; the army encircled the city. Her brows encircled with his serpent rod. Parnell. Syn. -- To encompass; surround; environ; inclose. "environ": To surround; to encompass; to encircle; to hem in; to be round about; to involve or envelop. Dwelling in a pleasant glade, With mountains round about environed. Spenser. Environed he was with many foes. Shak. Environ me with darkness whilst I write. Donne. About; around. [Obs.] Lord Godfrey's eye three times environ goes. Fairfax. "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman. "circumscribe": 1. to write or engare around. [R.] Thereon is circumscribed this epitaph. Ashmole. 2. To inclose within a certain limit; to hem in; to surround; to bound; to confine; to restrain. To circumscribe royal power. Bancroft. 3. (Geom.) To draw a line around si as to touch at certain points without cutting. See Inscribe, 5. Syn. -- To bound; limit; restrict; confine; abridge; restrain; environ; encircle; inclose; encompass.

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Sen 3815 Even with the escape from prison, and the flight, running and hiding as a wanted man, a hunted man with a price on my head—even then, there was no final, clear, encompassing grasp of the acts and the consequences that made up the new, bitter story of my life.
1107 propitious prev next
Definition
1. Convenient; auspicious; favorable; kind; as, a propitious season; a propitious breeze. 2. Hence, kind; gracious; merciful; helpful; -- said of a person or a divinity. Milton. And now t' assuage the force of this new flame, And make thee [Love] more propitious in my need. Spenser. Syn. -- Auspicious; favorable; kind. -- Propitious, Auspicious. Auspicious (from the ancient idea of auspices, or omens) denotes "indicative of success," or "favored by incidental occurrences;" as, an auspicious opening; an auspicious event. Propitious denotes that which efficaciously protect us in some undertaking, speeds our exertions, and decides our success; as, propitious gales; propitious influences. -- Pro*pi"tious*ly, adv. -- Pro*pi"tious*ness, n. "assuage": To soften, in a figurative sense; to allay, mitigate, ease, or lessen, as heat, pain, or grief; to appease or pacify, as passion or tumult; to satisfy, as appetite or desire. Refreshing winds the summer's heat assuage. Addison. To assuage the sorrows of a desolate old man Burke. The fount at which the panting mind assuages Her thirst of knowledge. Byron. Syn. -- To alleviate; mitigate; appease; soothe; calm; tranquilize; relieve. See Alleviate. To abate or subside. [Archaic] "The waters assuaged." Gen. vii. 1. The plague being come to a crisis, its fury began to assuage. De Foe.

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Sen 15912 It was a propitious start to the new friendship.
1108 encompass prev next
Definition
To circumscribe or go round so as to surround closely; to encircle; to inclose; to environ; as, a ring encompasses the finger; an army encompasses a city; a voyage encompassing the world. Shak. A question may be encompassed with difficulty. C. J. Smith. The love of all thy sons encompass thee. Tennyson. Syn. -- To encircle; inclose; surround; include; environ; invest; hem in; shut up. "encircle": To form a circle about; to inclose within a circle or ring; to surround; as, to encircle one in the arms; the army encircled the city. Her brows encircled with his serpent rod. Parnell. Syn. -- To encompass; surround; environ; inclose. "environ": To surround; to encompass; to encircle; to hem in; to be round about; to involve or envelop. Dwelling in a pleasant glade, With mountains round about environed. Spenser. Environed he was with many foes. Shak. Environ me with darkness whilst I write. Donne. About; around. [Obs.] Lord Godfrey's eye three times environ goes. Fairfax. "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman. "circumscribe": 1. to write or engare around. [R.] Thereon is circumscribed this epitaph. Ashmole. 2. To inclose within a certain limit; to hem in; to surround; to bound; to confine; to restrain. To circumscribe royal power. Bancroft. 3. (Geom.) To draw a line around si as to touch at certain points without cutting. See Inscribe, 5. Syn. -- To bound; limit; restrict; confine; abridge; restrain; environ; encircle; inclose; encompass.

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Sen 17427 Their artistic vision must encompass the deliberate creative smudge that gives each page its counterfeit authenticity, no less than the accuracy of altered or manufactured details.
1109 chronology prev next
Definition
The science which treats of measuring time by regular divisions or periods, and which assigns to events or transactions their proper dates. If history without chronology is dark and confused, chronology without history is dry and insipid. A. Holmes.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18147 She skipped important details from time to time, and she was loose with her chronology, ordering the facts as they occurred to her in the telling rather than as they’d happened.
1110 cachet prev next
Definition
A seal, as of a letter. Lettre de cachet Etym: [F.], a sealed letter, especially a letter or missive emanating from the sovereign; -- much used in France before the Revolution as an arbitrary order of imprisonment. "etym": See Etymon. H. F. Talbot. "missive": 1. Specially sent; intended or prepared to be sent; as, a letter missive. Ayliffe. 2. Missile. "The missive weapons fly." Dryden. Letters missive, letters conveying the permission, comand, or advice of a superior authority, as a sovereign. They are addressed and sent to some certain person or persons, and are distinguished from letters patent, which are addressed to the public. 1. That which is sent; a writing containing a message. 2. One who is sent; a messenger. [Obs.] Shak.

Difficulty: 16.42
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Sen 18699 There was a certain reciprocal cachet in the connection: the filmi types, as they were known in Bollywood, found it exhilarating to be associated, at a safe distance, with the notorious mafia don, and the Khan himself wasn’t indifferent to the glamour that laminated the movie world.
1111 crawlspace prev next

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Sen 20097 In the meanwhile, in that black, tortured crawlspace of one to two weeks without heroin and without endorphins, we learn what anxiety and stress and pain really are.
1112 headscarf prev next

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Sen 2331 The woman wiped his face with a corner of her headscarf, and held the cloth out for me to see the bright stain of blood.
1113 eviscerated prev next
Definition  (eviscerate)
To take out the entrails of; to disembowel; to gut. "disembowel": 1. To take or let out the bowels or interior parts of; to eviscerate. Soon after their death, they are disemboweled. Cook. Roaring floods and cataracts that sweep From disemboweled earth the virgin gold. Thomson. 2. To take or draw from the body, as the web of a spider. [R.] "Her disemboweled web." J. Philips.

Difficulty: 16.41
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 855 He sat behind a solid wooden counter, surrounded by bomb-blast radios, eviscerated cassette players, and boxes of parts.
1114 languid prev next
Definition
1. Drooping or flagging from exhaustion; indisposed to exertion; without animation; weak; weary; heavy; dull. " Languid, powerless limbs. " Armstrong. Fire their languid souls with Cato's virtue. Addison. 2. Slow in progress; tardy. " No motion so swift or languid." Bentley. 3. Promoting or indicating weakness or heaviness; as, a languid day. Feebly she laugheth in the languid moon. Keats. Their idleness, aimless and languid airs. W. Black. Syn. -- Feeble; weak; faint; sickly; pining; exhausted; weary; listless; heavy; dull; heartless. -- Lan"guid*ly, adv. -- Lan"guid*ness, n. "flagging": A pavement or sidewalk of flagstones; flagstones, collectively. Growing languid, weak, or spiritless; weakening; delaying. -- Flag"ging*ly, adv. "listless": Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. " A listless unconcern." Thomson. Benumbed with cold, and listless of their gain. Dryden. I was listless, and desponding. Swift. Syn. -- Heedless; careless; indifferent; vacant; uninterested; languid; spiritless; supine; indolent. -- List"less*ly, adv. -- List"less*ness, n. "heaviness": The state or quality of being heavy in its various senses; weight; sadness; sluggishness; oppression; thickness. "feebly": In a feeble manner. The restored church . . . contended feebly, and with half a heart. Macaulay.

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Sen 12194 The storm was easing, and the breeze that had stirred the languid air was dying.
1115 aubergines prev next

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Sen 15295 He prepared a hearty meal of cabbage leaves stuffed with potatoes, green beans with ginger, aubergines with sour green chutney, and crisp-fried okra.
1116 chagrin prev next
Definition
Vexation; mortification. I must own that I felt rather vexation and chagrin than hope and satisfaction. Richard Porson. Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin. Pope. Syn. -- Vexation; mortification; peevishness; fretfulness; disgust; disquiet. Chagrin, Vexation, Mortification. These words agree in the general sense of pain produced by untoward circumstances. Vexation is a feeling of disquietude or irritating uneasiness from numerous causes, such as losses, disappointments, etc. Mortification is a stronger word, and denotes that keen sense of pain which results fron wounded pride or humiliating occurrences. Chagrin is literally the cutting pain produced by the friction of Shagreen leather; in its figurative sense, it varies in meaning, denoting in its lower degrees simply a state of vexation, and its higher degrees the keenest sense of mortification. "Vexation arises chiefly fron our wishes and views being crossed: mortification, from our self-importance being hurt; chagrin, from a mixture of the two." Crabb. To excite ill-humor in; to vex; to mortify; as, he was not a little chagrined. To be vexed or annoyed. Fielding. Chagrined. Dryden. "uneasiness": 1. The quality or state of being uneasy; restlessness; disquietude; anxiety. 2. The quality of making uneasy; discomfort; as, the uneasiness of the road. [Obs.] Bp. Burnet. "figurative": 1. Representing by a figure, or by resemblance; typical; representative. This, they will say, was figurative, and served, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity. Hooker. 2. Used in a sense that is tropical, as a metaphor; not literal; -- applied to words and expressions. 3. Ambounding in figures of speech; flowery; florid; as, a highly figurative description. 4. Relating to the representation of form or figure by drawing, carving, etc. See Figure, n., 2. They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form. J. A. Symonds. Figurative counterpointdescant. See under Figurate. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ly, adv. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ness, n. "mortification": 1. The act of mortifying, or the condition of being mortified; especially: (a) (Med.) The death of one part of an animal body, while the rest continues to live; loss of vitality in some part of a living animal; gangrene. Dunglison. (b) (Alchem. & Old Chem.) Destruction of active qualities; neutralization. [Obs.] Bacon. (c) Subjection of the passions and appetites, by penance, absistence, or painful severities inflicted on the body. The mortification of our lusts has something in it that is troublesome, yet nothing that is unreasonable. Tillotson. (d) Hence: Deprivation or depression of self-approval; abatement or pride; humiliation; chagrin; vexation. We had the mortification to lose sight of Munich, Augsburg, and Ratisbon. Addison. 2. That which mortifies; the cause of humiliation, chagrin, or vexation. It is one of the vexatious mortifications of a studious man to have his thoughts discovered by a tedious visit. L'Estrange. 3. (Scots Law) A gift to some charitable or religious institution; -- nearly synonymous with mortmain. Syn. -- Chagrin; vexation; shame. See Chagrin. "vexation": 1. The act of vexing, or the state of being vexed; agitation; disquiet; trouble; irritation. Passions too violent . . . afford us nothing but vexation and pain. Sir W. Temple. Those who saw him after a defeat looked in vain for any trace of vexation. Macaulay. 2. The cause of trouble or disquiet; affliction. Your children were vexation to your youth. Shak. 3. A harassing by process of law; a vexing or troubling, as by a malicious suit. Bacon. Syn. -- Chagrin; agitation; mortification; uneasiness; trouble; grief; sorrow; distress. See Chagrin. "shagreen": To chagrin. [Obs.] 1. A kind of untanned leather prepared in Russia and the East, from the skins of horses, asses, and camels, and grained so as to be covered with small round granulations. This characteristic surface is produced by pressing small seeds into the grain or hair side when moist, and afterward, when dry, scraping off the roughness left between them, and then, by soaking, causing the portions of the skin which had been compressed or indented by the seeds to swell up into relief. It is used for covering small cases and boxes. 2. The skin of various small sharks and other fishes when having small, rough, bony scales. The dogfishes of the genus Scyllium furnish a large part of that used in the arts. 1. Made or covered with the leather called shagreen. "A shagreen case of lancets." T. Hook. 2. (Zoöl.) Covered with rough scales or points like those on shagreen. "peevishness": The quality of being peevish; disposition to murmur; sourness of temper. Syn. -- See Petulance. "mortify": 1. To destroy the organic texture and vital functions of; to produce gangrene in. 2. To destroy the active powers or essential qualities of; to change by chemical action. [Obs.] Chaucer. Quicksilver is mortified with turpentine. Bacon. He mortified pearls in vinegar. Hakewill. 3. To deaden by religious or other discipline, as the carnal affections, bodily appetites, or worldly desires; to bring into subjection; to abase; to humble. With fasting mortified, worn out with tears. Harte. Mortify thy learned lust. Prior. Mortify, rherefore, your members which are upon the earth. Col. iii. 5. 4. To affect with vexation, chagrin, or humiliation; to humble; to depress. The news of the fatal battle of Worcester, which exceedingly mortified our expectations. Evelyn. How often is the ambitious man mortified with the very praises he receives, if they do not rise so high as he thinks they ought! Addison. 1. To lose vitality and organic structure, as flesh of a living body; to gangrene. 2. To practice penance from religious motives; to deaden desires by religious discipline. This makes him ... give alms of all that he hath, watch, fast, and mortify. Law. 3. To be subdued; to decay, as appetites, desires, etc. "disquiet": Deprived of quiet; impatient; restless; uneasy. [R.] Shak. Want of quiet; want of tranquility in body or mind; uneasiness; restlessness; disturbance; anxiety. Swift. To render unquiet; to deprive of peace, rest, or tranquility; to make uneasy or restless; to disturb. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me Ps. xlii. 11. As quiet as these disquieted times will permit. Sir W. Scott. Syn. -- To harass; disturb; vex; fret; excite; agitate.

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Sen 21293 I noticed with deep chagrin that Nazeer was one of the men walking.
1117 escarpments prev next
Definition  (escarpment)
A steep descent or declivity; steep face or edge of a ridge; ground about a fortified place, cut away nearly vertically to prevent hostile approach. See Scarp. "scarp": A band in the same position as the bend sinister, but only half as broad as the latter. 1. (Fort.) The slope of the ditch nearest the parapet; the escarp. 2. A steep descent or declivity. To cut down perpendicularly, or nearly so; as, to scarp the face of a ditch or a rock. From scarped cliff and quarried stone. Tennyson. Sweep ruins from the scarped mountain. Emerson. "declivity": 1. Deviation from a horizontal line; gradual descent of surface; inclination downward; slope; -- opposed to acclivity, or ascent; the same slope, considered as descending, being a declivity, which, considered as ascending, is an acclivity. 2. A descending surface; a sloping place. Commodious declivities and channels for the passage of the waters. Derham.

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Sen 23102 The other was found cowering in a blind alcove formed between high, rocky escarpments.
1118 sidestepped prev next

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Sen 24663 I sidestepped and slammed a hard, short right hand into the side of his head, but he reached out with his clawed hand as he fell, and clutched at my trousers.
1119 sedimentary prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to sediment; formed by sediment; containing matter that has subsided. Sedimentary rocks. (Geol.) See Aqueous rocks, under Aqueous. "aqueous": 1. Partaking of the nature of water, or abounding with it; watery. The aqueous vapor of the air. Tyndall. 2. Made from, or by means of, water. An aqueous deposit. Dana. Aqueous extract, an extract obtained from a vegetable substance by steeping it in water. -- Aqueous humor (Anat.), one the humors of the eye; a limpid fluid, occupying the space between the crystalline lens and the cornea. (See Eye.) -- Aqueous rocks (Geol.), those which are deposited from water and lie in strata, as opposed to volcanic rocks, which are of igneous origin; -- called also sedimentary rocks.

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Sen 424 They looked at one another and exchanged similar expressions, raising their foreheads in sedimentary wrinkles and pursing their lips as Prabaker pulled the piece of hashish from his pocket.
1120 irrepressible prev next
Definition
Not capable of being repressed, restrained, or controlled; as, irrepressible joy; an irrepressible conflict. W. H. Steward.

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Sen 3867 It was radiant, and suffused with an irrepressible good humour.
1121 amputees prev next

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Sen 5359 Elderly people, amputees, the sick, or the injured didn’t find much sympathy, and were sometimes forced to move on to another street, but they weren’t arrested.
1122 lawmen prev next

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Sen 15520 He was a young guy who found himself on the wrong side of the local lawmen.
1123 tributary prev next
Definition
1. Paying tribute to another, either from compulsion, as an acknowledgment of submission, or to secure protection, or for the purpose of purchasing peace. [Julius] unto Rome made them tributary. Chaucer. 2. Hence, subject; subordinate; inferior. He to grace his tributary gods. Milton. 3. Paid in tribute. "Tributary tears." Shak. 4. Yielding supplies of any kind; serving to form or make up, a greater object of the same kind, as a part, branch, etc.; contributing; as, the Ohio has many tributary streams, and is itself tributary to the Mississippi. 1. A ruler or state that pays tribute, or a stated sum, to a conquering power, for the purpose of securing peace and protection, or as an acknowledgment of submission, or for the purchase of security. 2. A stream or river flowing into a larger river or into a lake; an affluent. "acknowledgment": 1. The act of acknowledging; admission; avowal; owning; confession. "An acknowledgment of fault." Froude. 2. The act of owning or recognized in a particular character or relationship; recognition as regards the existence, authority, truth, or genuineness. Immediately upon the acknowledgment of the Christian faith, the eunuch was baptized by Philip. Hooker. 3. The owning of a benefit received; courteous recognition; expression of thanks. Shak. 4. Something given or done in return for a favor, message, etc. Smollett. 5. A declaration or avowal of one's own act, to give it legal validity; as, the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer. Also, the certificate of the officer attesting such declaration. Acknowledgment money, in some parts of England, a sum paid by copyhold tenants, on the death of their landlords, as an acknowledgment of their new lords. Cowell. Syn. -- Confession; concession; recognition; admission; avowal; recognizance.

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Sen 21202 THE MAIN ROAD FROM CHAMAN, in those years, crossed a tributary of the Dhari River on the way to Spin Baldak, Dabrai, and Melkaarez on the highway route to Kandahar.
1124 tributaries prev next
Definition  (tributary)
1. Paying tribute to another, either from compulsion, as an acknowledgment of submission, or to secure protection, or for the purpose of purchasing peace. [Julius] unto Rome made them tributary. Chaucer. 2. Hence, subject; subordinate; inferior. He to grace his tributary gods. Milton. 3. Paid in tribute. "Tributary tears." Shak. 4. Yielding supplies of any kind; serving to form or make up, a greater object of the same kind, as a part, branch, etc.; contributing; as, the Ohio has many tributary streams, and is itself tributary to the Mississippi. 1. A ruler or state that pays tribute, or a stated sum, to a conquering power, for the purpose of securing peace and protection, or as an acknowledgment of submission, or for the purchase of security. 2. A stream or river flowing into a larger river or into a lake; an affluent. "acknowledgment": 1. The act of acknowledging; admission; avowal; owning; confession. "An acknowledgment of fault." Froude. 2. The act of owning or recognized in a particular character or relationship; recognition as regards the existence, authority, truth, or genuineness. Immediately upon the acknowledgment of the Christian faith, the eunuch was baptized by Philip. Hooker. 3. The owning of a benefit received; courteous recognition; expression of thanks. Shak. 4. Something given or done in return for a favor, message, etc. Smollett. 5. A declaration or avowal of one's own act, to give it legal validity; as, the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer. Also, the certificate of the officer attesting such declaration. Acknowledgment money, in some parts of England, a sum paid by copyhold tenants, on the death of their landlords, as an acknowledgment of their new lords. Cowell. Syn. -- Confession; concession; recognition; admission; avowal; recognizance.

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Sen 21723 Then, exposed to the wide sky, we travelled over flatter land for almost fifty kilometres to cross the Arghastan River and its tributaries three times before we reached the foothills of the Shahbad Pass.
1125 cantankerous prev next
Definition
Perverse; contentious; ugly; malicious. [Colloq.] -- Can*tan"ker*ous*ly, adv. -- Can*tan"ker*ous*ness, n. The cantankerous old maiden aunt. Theckeray.

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Sen 27313 The artist was notoriously cantankerous and he assumed, at first, that we were trying to mock the gods, and him, with a prank or a hoax.
1126 imperious prev next
Definition
1. Commanding; ascendant; imperial; lordly; majestic. [Obs.] "A vast and imperious mind." Tilloison. Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness, Imperious. Shak. 2. Haughly; arrogant; overbearing; as, an imperious tyrant; an imperious manner. This imperious man will work us all From princes into pages. Shak. His bold, contemptuous, and imperious spirit soon made him conspicuous. Macaulay. 3. Imperative; urgent; compelling. Imperious need, which can not be withstood. Dryden. Syn. -- Dictatorial; haughty; domineering; overbearing; lordly; tyrannical; despotic; arrogant; imperative; authoritative; commanding; pressing. -- Imperious, Lordly, Domineering. One who is imperious exercises his authority in a manner highly offensive for its spirit and tone; one who is lordly assumes a lofty air in order to display his importance; one who is domineering gives orders in a way to make other feel their inferiority. "dictatorial": 1. Pertaining or suited to a dictator; absolute. Military powers quite dictatorial. W. Irving. 2. Characteristic of a dictator; imperious; dogmatical; overbearing; as, a dictatorial tone or manner. -- Dic`ta*to"ri*al*ly, adv. -- Dic`ta*to"ri*al*ness, n. "lordly": 1. Suitable for a lord; of or pertaining to a lord; resembling a lord; hence, grand; noble; dignified; honorable. She brought forth butter in a lordly dish. Judges v. 25. Lordly sins require lordly estates to support them. South. The maidens gathered strength and grace And presence, lordlier than before. Tennyson. 2. Proud; haughty; imperious; insolent. Lords are lordliest in their wine. Milton. Syn. -- Imperious; haughty; overbearing; tyrannical; despotic; domineering; arrogant. See Imperious. In a lordly manner. "despotic": Having the character of, or pertaining to, a despot; absolute in power; possessing and abusing unlimited power; evincing despotism; tyrannical; arbitrary. -- Des*pot"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Des*pot"ic*al*ness, n. "contemptuous": Manifecting or expressing contempt or disdain; scornful; haughty; insolent; disdainful. A proud, contemptious behavior. Hammond. Savage invectiveand contemptuous sarcasm. Macaulay. Rome . . . entertained the most contemptuous opinion of the Jews. Atterbury. Syn. -- Scornful; insolent; haughty; disdainful; supercilious; insulting; contumelious. -- Contemptuous, Contemptible. These words, from their similarity of sound, are sometimes erroneously interchanged, as when a person speaks of having "a very contemptible opinion of another." Contemptible is applied to that which is the object of contempt; as, contemptible conduct; acontemptible fellow. Contemptuous is applied to that which indicates contempts; as, a contemptuous look; a contemptuous remark; contemptuous treatment. A person, or whatever is personal, as an action, an expression, a feeling, an opinion, may be either contemptuous or contemptible; a thing may be contemptible, but can not be contemptuous.

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Sen 9718 His tone with the driver was imperious, but not severe, and I guessed that it was the only tone Nazeer felt comfortable with and respected.
1127 caraway prev next
Definition
1. (Bot.) A biennial plant of the Parsley family (Carum Carui). The seeds have an aromatic smell, and a warm, pungent taste. They are used in cookery and confectionery, and also in medicine as a carminative. 2. A cake or sweetmeat containing caraway seeds. Caraways, or biscuits, or some other [comfits]. Cogan. "sweetmeat": 1. Fruit preserved with sugar, as peaches, pears, melons, nuts, orange peel, etc.; -- usually in the plural; a confect; a confection. 2. The paint used in making patent leather. 3. (Zoöl.) A boat shell (Crepidula fornicata) of the American coast. [Local, U.S.] "biennial": 1. Happening, or taking place, once in two years; as, a biennial election. 2. (Bot.) Continuing for two years, and then perishing, as plants which form roots and leaves the first year, and produce fruit the second. 1. Something which takes place or appears once in two years; esp. a biennial examination. 2. (Bot.) A plant which exists or lasts for two years. "confectionery": 1. Sweetmeats, in general; things prepared and sold by a confectioner; confections; candies. 2. A place where candies, sweetmeats, and similar things are made or sold. "carminative": Expelling wind from the body; warning; antispasmodic. "Carmenative hot seeds." Dunglison. A substance, esp. an aromatic, which tends to expel wind from the alimentary canal, or to relieve colic, griping, or flatulence.

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Sen 11968 Her breath was sweet with cinnamon and caraway seed.
1128 weightlifting prev next

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Sen 13727 I trained in karate and weightlifting with Abdullah at his favourite gym in the fashionable suburb of Breach Candy.
1129 rend prev next
Definition
1. To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to tear asunder; to split; to burst; as, powder rends a rock in blasting; lightning rends an oak. The dreadful thunder Doth rend the region. Shak. 2. To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force. An empire from its old foundations rent. Dryden. I will surely rend the kingdom from thee. 1 Kings xi. 11. To rap and rend. See under Rap, v. t., to snatch. Syn. -- To tear; burst; break; rupture; lacerate; fracture; crack; split. To be rent or torn; to become parted; to sepparate; to split. Jer. Taylor. "lacerate": To tear; to rend; to separate by tearing; to mangle; as, to lacerate the flesh. Hence: To afflict; to torture; as, to lacerate the heart. 1. Rent; torn; mangled; as, a lacerated wound. By each other's fury lacerate Southey. 2. (Bot. & Zoöl.) Jagged, or slashed irregularly, at the end, or along the edge.

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Sen 22923 It was said that he was a ghost, or the Shaitaan, the Great Satan himself, come to rend men’s bodies and peel the masks of their human faces back from their very skulls.
1130 consonant prev next
Definition
1. Having agreement; congruous; consistent; according; -- usually followed by with or to. Each one pretends that his opinion . . . is consonant to the words there used. Bp. Beveridge. That where much is given shall be much required is a thing consonant with natural equity. Dr. H. More. 2. Having like sounds. Consonant words and syllables. Howell. 3. (Mus.) harmonizing together; accordant; as, consonant tones, consonant chords. 4. Of or pertaining to consonants; made up of, or containing many, consonants. No Russian whose dissonant consonant name Almost shatters to fragments the trumpet of fame. T. Moore. An articulate sound which in utterance is usually combined and sounded with an open sound called a vowel; a member of the spoken alphabet other than a vowel; also, a letter or character representing such a sound. Note: Consonants are divided into various classes, as mutes, spirants, sibilants, nasals, semivowels, etc. All of them are sounds uttered through a closer position of the organs than that of a vowel proper, although the most open of them, as the semivowels and nasals, are capable of being used as if vowels, and forming syllables with other closer consonants, as in the English feeble (taken ( Note: "A consonant is the result of audible friction, squeezing, or stopping of the breath in some part of the mouth (or occasionally of the throath.) The main distinction between vowels and consonants is, that while in the former the mouth configuration merely modifies the vocalized breath, which is therefore an essential element of the vowels, in consonants the narrowing or stopping of the oral passage is the foundation of the sound, and the state of the glottis is something secondary." H. Sweet. "dissonant": 1. Sounding harshly; discordant; unharmonious. With clamor of voices dissonant and loud. Longfellow. 2. Disagreeing; incongruous; discrepfrom or to. "Anything dissonant to truth." South. What can be dissonant from reason and nature than that a man, naturally inclined to clemency, should show himself unkind and inhuman Hakewill. "accordant": Agreeing; consonant; harmonious; corresponding; conformable; -- followed by with or to. Strictly accordant with true morality. Darwin. And now his voice accordant to the string. Coldsmith. "glottis": The opening from the pharynx into the larynx or into the trachea. See Larynx. "utterance": 1. The act of uttering. Specifically: -- (a) Sale by offering to the public. [Obs.] Bacon. (b) Putting in circulation; as, the utterance of false coin, or of forged notes. (c) Vocal expression; articulation; speech. At length gave utterance to these words. Milton. 2. Power or style of speaking; as, a good utterance. They . . . began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts ii. 4. O, how unlike To that large utterance of the early gods! Keats. The last extremity; the end; death; outrance. [Obs.] Annibal forced those captives whom he had taken of our men to skirmish one against another to the utterance. Holland. "congruous": Suitable or concordant; accordant; fit; harmonious; correspondent; consistent. Not congruous to the nature of epic poetry. Blair. It is no ways congruous that God should be always frightening men into an acknowledgment of the truth. Atterbury.

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Sen 26823 Having a far longer acquaintance with her, I knew that no power could influence Kavita toward anything not fully consonant with her will and her wish.
1131 preamble prev next
Definition
A introductory portion; an introduction or preface, as to a book, document, etc.; specifically, the introductory part of a statute, which states the reasons and intent of the law. To make a preamble to; to preface; to serve as a preamble. [R.] Feltham. Milton.

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Sen 6457 ‘He is a danger man, Lin,’ he said without preamble.
1132 girders prev next
Definition  (girder)
One who girds; a satirist. 1. One who, or that which, girds. 2. (Arch. & Engin.) A main beam; a stright, horizontal beam to span an opening or carry weight, such as ends of floor beams, etc.; hence, a framed or built-up member discharging the same office, technically called a compound girder. See Illusts. of Frame, and Doubleframed floor, under Double. Bowstring girder, Box girder, etc. See under Bowstring, Box, etc. -- Girder bridge. See under Bridge. -- Lattice girder, a girder consisting of longitudinal bars united by diagonal crossing bars. -- Half-lattice girder, a girder consisting of horizontal upper and lower bars connected by a series of diagonal bars sloping alternately in opposite directions so as to divide the space between the bars into a series of triangles. Knight. -- Sandwich girder, a girder consisting of two parallel wooden beams, between which is an iron plate, the whole clamped together by iron bolts. "alternately": 1. In reciprocal succession; succeeding by turns; in alternate order. 2. (Math.) By alternation; when, in a proportion, the antecedent term is compared with antecedent, and consequent. "longitudinal": 1. Of or pertaining to longitude or length; as, longitudinal distance. 2. Extending in length; in the direction of the length; running lengthwise, as distinguished from transverse; as, the longitudinal diameter of a body. Cheyne. A railway sleeper lying parallel with the rail. "bowstring": 1. The string of a bow. 2. A string used by the Turks for strangling offenders. Bowstring bridge, a bridge formed of an arch of timber or iron, often braced, the thrust of which is resisted by a tie forming a chord of the arch. -- Bowstring girder, an arched beam strengthened by a tie connecting its two ends. -- Bowstring hemp (Bot.), the tenacious fiber of the Sanseviera Zeylanica, growing in India and Africa, from which bowstrings are made. Balfour. To strangle with a bowstring. "satirist": One who satirizes; especially, one who writes satire. The mighty satirist, who . . . had spread through the Whig ranks. Macaulay. "sloping": Inclining or inclined from the plane of the horizon, or from a horizontal or other right line; oblique; declivous; slanting. -- Slop"ing*ly, adv. The sloping land recedes into the clouds. Cowper. "lattice": 1. Any work of wood or metal, made by crossing laths, or thin strips, and forming a network; as, the lattice of a window; -- called also latticework. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice. Judg. v. 28. 2. (Her.) The representation of a piece of latticework used as a bearing, the bands being vertical and horizontal. Lattice bridge, a bridge supported by lattice girders, or latticework trusses. -- Lattice girder (Arch.), a girder of which the wed consists of diagonal pieces crossing each other in the manner of latticework. -- Lattice plant (Bot.), an aquatic plant of Madagascar (Ouvirandra fenestralis), whose leaves have interstices between their ribs and cross veins, so as to resemble latticework. A second species is O. Berneriana. The genus is merged in Aponogeton by recent authors. 1. To make a lattice of; as, to lattice timbers. 2. To close, as an opening, with latticework; to furnish with a lattice; as, to lattice a window. To lattice up, to cover or inclose with a lattice. Therein it seemeth he [Alexander] hath latticed up Cæsar. Sir T. North.

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Sen 7566 The uppermost floors hadn’t been concreted, but the framework of upright, transom, and truss girders was already in place and even there, thirty-five storeys into the sky, women worked beside the men.
1133 incitements prev next
Definition  (incitement)
1. The act of inciting. 2. That which incites the mind, or moves to action; motive; incentive; impulse. Burke. From the long records of a distant age, Derive incitements to renew thy rage. Pope. Syn. -- Motive; incentive; spur; stimulus; impulse; encouragement.

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Sen 17171 His incitements to communal violence had resulted in rioting, arson, and murder.
1134 stanzas prev next
Definition  (stanza)
1. A number of lines or verses forming a division of a song or poem, and agreeing in meter, rhyme, number of lines, etc., with other divisions; a part of a poem, ordinarily containing every variation of measure in that poem; a combination or arrangement of lines usually recurring; whether like or unlike, in measure. Horace confines himself strictly to one sort of verse, or stanza, in every ode. Dryden. 2. (Arch.) An apartment or division in a building; a room or chamber.

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Sen 26316 They were deeply moving in their beauty, for the first few stanzas, but always found their way into sexual descriptions and allusions so perverse and abhorrent that strong, wicked men winced to hear them.
1135 scudded prev next
Definition  (scud)
1. To move swiftly; especially, to move as if driven forward by something. The first nautilus that scudded upon the glassy surface of warm primeval oceans. I. Taylor. The wind was high; the vast white clouds scudded over the blue heaven. Beaconsfield. 2. (Naut.) To be driven swiftly, or to run, before a gale, with little or no sail spread. To pass over quickly. [R.] Shenstone. 1. The act of scudding; a driving along; a rushing with precipitation. 2. Loose, vapory clouds driven swiftly by the wind. Borne on the scud of the sea. Longfellow. The scud was flying fast above us, throwing a veil over the moon. Sir S. Baker. 3. A slight, sudden shower. [Prov. Eng.] Wright. 4. (Zoöl.) A small flight of larks, or other birds, less than a flock. [Prov. Eng.] 5. (Zoöl.) Any swimming amphipod crustacean. Storm scud. See the Note under Cloud. "vapory": 1. Full of vapors; vaporous. 2. Hypochondriacal; splenetic; peevish. "crustacean": Of or pertaining to the Crustacea; crustaceous. -- n. An animal belonging to the class Crustacea. "precipitation": 1. The act of precipitating, or the state of being precipitated, or thrown headlong. In peril of precipitation From off rock Tarpeian. Shak. 2. A falling, flowing, or rushing downward with violence and rapidity. The hurry, precipitation, and rapid motion of the water, returning . . . towards the sea. Woodward. 3. Great hurry; rash, tumultuous haste; impetuosity. "The precipitation of inexperience." Rambler. 4. (Chem.) The act or process from a solution. "amphipod": One of the Amphipoda. Of or pertaining to the Amphipoda.

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Sen 2208 His eyes were open, conscious, staring backward and upside down: black eyes, scudded with fear and imbecile hope.
1136 sputum prev next
Definition
That which is expectorated; a salival discharge; spittle; saliva. "spittle": See Spital. [Obs.] B. Jonson. To dig or stir with a small spade. [Prov. Eng.] A small sort of spade. [Prov. Eng.] The thick, moist matter which is secreted by the salivary glands; saliva; spit. Spittle insect. (Zoöl.) See Cuckoo spit (b), under Cuckoo. "salival": Salivary.

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Sen 11411 ‘We’ll take these samples and have them analysed,’ he said, nodding to an assistant who filed blood, sputum, and stool samples in a metal carry case.
1137 restaurateurs prev next
Definition  (restaurateur)
The keeper of an eathing house or a restaurant.

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Sen 13618 To find the tourists, and entice them to change their money, Khaderbhai’s mafia council employed a small army of touts, guides, beggars, hotel managers, bellboys, restaurateurs, waiters, shopkeepers, airline officials, travel agents, nightclub owners, prostitutes, and cab drivers.
1138 neurotransmitters prev next

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Sen 20093 The endorphins are peptide neurotransmitters that have pain-relieving properties.
1139 gunship prev next

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Sen 23022 The gunship opened up with machine guns, raking the open ground and chopping up the bodies of the wounded men who were exposed there.
1140 pique prev next
Definition
A cotton fabric, figured in the loom, -- used as a dress goods for women and children, and for vestings, etc. The jigger. See Jigger. 1. A feeling of hurt, vexation, or resentment, awakened by a social slight or injury; irritation of the feelings, as through wounded pride; stinging vexation. Men take up piques and displeasures. Dr. H. More. Wars had arisen . . . upon a personal pique. De Quincey. 2. Keenly felt desire; a longing. Though it have the pique, and long, 'Tis still for something in the wrong. Hudibras. 3. (Card Playing) In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one. Syn. -- Displeasure; irritation; grudge; spite. Pique, Spite, Grudge. Pique denotes a quick and often transient sense of resentment for some supposed neglect or injury, but it is not marked by malevolence. Spite is a stronger term, denoting settled ill will or malice, with a desire to injure, as the result of extreme irritation. Grudge goes still further, denoting cherished and secret enmity, with an unforgiving spirit. A pique is usually of recent date; a grudge is that which has long subsisted; spite implies a disposition to cross or vex others. 1. To wound the pride of; to sting; to nettle; to irritate; to fret; to offend; to excite to anger. Pique her, and soothe in turn. Byron. 2. To excite to action by causing resentment or jealousy; to stimulate; to prick; as, to pique ambition, or curiosity. Prior. 3. To pride or value; -- used reflexively. Men . . . pique themselves upon their skill. Locke. Syn. -- To offend; displease; irritate; provoke; fret; nettle; sting; goad; stimulate. To cause annoyance or irritation. "Every piques." Tatler. "goad": A pointed instrument used to urge on a beast; hence, any necessity that urges or stimulates. The daily goad urging him to the daily toil. Macaulay. To prick; to drive with a goad; hence, to urge forward, or to rouse by anything pungent, severe, irritating, or inflaming; to stimulate. That temptation that doth goad us on. Shak. Syn. -- To urge; stimulate; excite; arouse; irritate; incite; instigate. "malevolence": The quality or state of being malevolent; evil disposition toward another; inclination to injure others; ill will. See Synonym of Malice. "vexation": 1. The act of vexing, or the state of being vexed; agitation; disquiet; trouble; irritation. Passions too violent . . . afford us nothing but vexation and pain. Sir W. Temple. Those who saw him after a defeat looked in vain for any trace of vexation. Macaulay. 2. The cause of trouble or disquiet; affliction. Your children were vexation to your youth. Shak. 3. A harassing by process of law; a vexing or troubling, as by a malicious suit. Bacon. Syn. -- Chagrin; agitation; mortification; uneasiness; trouble; grief; sorrow; distress. See Chagrin. "piquet": See Picket. [R.] A game at cards played between two persons, with thirty-two cards, all the deuces, threes, fours, fives, and sixes, being set aside. [Written also picket and picquet.]

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Sen 24035 Talk like that would’ve been enough to pique the curiosity of any intelligence agent from any agency.
1141 generational prev next

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Sen 25287 And the business was generational: as licensing authorities and other bodies modified their documents in response to our forgeries, we dutifully copied and then counterfeited them again, at additional cost.
1142 baptismal prev next
Definition
Pertaining to baptism; as, baptismal vows. Baptismal name, the Christian name, which is given at baptism.

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Sen 26779 And I couldn’t decide, as I walked that long, baptismal stretch from Flora to the Causeway, which way to jump.
1143 billowing prev next
Definition  (billow)
1. A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind. Whom the winds waft where'er the billows roll. Cowper. 2. A great wave or flood of anything. Milton. To surge; to rise and roll in waves or surges; to undulate. "The billowing snow." Prior. "waft": 1. To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Obs.] But soft: who wafts us yonder Shak. 2. To cause to move or go in a wavy manner, or by the impulse of waves, as of water or air; to bear along on a buoyant medium; as, a balloon was wafted over the channel. A gentle wafting to immortal life. Milton. Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the pole. Pope. 3. To cause to float; to keep from sinking; to buoy. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne. Note: This verb is regular; but waft was formerly somwafted. To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float. And now the shouts waft near the citadel. Dryden. 1. A wave or current of wind. "Everywaft of the air." Longfellow. In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains In one wide waft. Thomson. 2. A signal made by waving something, as a flag, in the air. 3. An unpleasant flavor. [Obs.] 4. (Naut.) A knot, or stop, in the middle of a flag. [Written also wheft.] Note: A flag with a waft in it, when hoisted at the staff, or half way to the gaff, means, a man overboard; at the peak, a desire to communicate; at the masthead, "Recall boats." "undulate": Same as Undulated. To cause to move backward and forward, or up and down, in undulations or waves; to cause to vibrate. Breath vocalized, that is, vibrated and undulated. Holder. To move in, or have, undulations or waves; to vibrate; to wave; as, undulating air.

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Sen 16293 They filled the whole width of the billowing sheet:
1144 acuity prev next
Definition
Sharpness or acuteness, as of a needle, wit, etc. "sharpness": The quality or condition of being sharp; keenness; acuteness. "acuteness": 1. The quality of being acute or pointed; sharpness; as, the acuteness of an angle. 2. The faculty of nice discernment or perception; acumen; keenness; sharpness; sensitiveness; -- applied to the senses, or the understanding. By acuteness of feeling, we perceive small objects or slight impressions: by acuteness of intellect, we discern nice distinctions. Perhaps, also, he felt his professional acuteness interested in bringing it to a successful close. Sir W. Scott. 3. Shrillness; high pitch; -- said of sounds. 4. (Med.) Violence of a disease, which brings it speedily to a crisis. Syn. -- Penetration; sagacity; keenness; ingenuity; shrewdness; subtlety; sharp-wittedness.

Difficulty: 16.38
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Sen 26689 Sometimes, we see the past so clearly, and read the legend of its parts with such acuity, that every stitch of time reveals its purpose, and a kind of message is enfolded in it.
1145 tertiary prev next
Definition
1. Being of the third formation, order, or rank; third; as, a tertiary use of a word. Trench. 2. (Chem.) Possessing some quality in the third degree; having been subjected to the substitution of three atoms or radicals; as, a tertiary alcohol, amine, or salt. Cf. Primary, and Secondary. (CH3)3C.OH. 3. (Geol.) Later than, or subsequent to, the Secondary. 4. (Zoöl.) Growing on the innermost joint of a bird's wing; tertial; -- said of quills. Tertiary age. (Geol.) See under Age, 8. -- Tertiary color, a color produced by the mixture of two secondaries. "The so-called tertiary colors are citrine, russet, and olive." Fairholt. -- Tertiary period. (Geol.) (a) The first period of the age of mammals, or of the Cenozoic era. (b) The rock formation of that period; -- called also Tertiary formation. See the Chart of Geology. -- Tertiary syphilis (Med.), the third and last stage of syphilis, in which it invades the bones and internal organs. 1. (R. C. Ch.) A member of the Third Order in any monastic system; as, the Franciscan tertiaries; the Dominican tertiaries; the Carmelite tertiaries. See Third Order, under Third. Addis & Arnold. 2. (Geol.) The Tertiary era, period, or formation. 3. (Zoöl.) One of the quill feathers which are borne upon the basal joint of the wing of a bird. See Illust. of Bird. "citrine": Like a citron or lemon; of a lemon color; greenish yellow. Citrine ointment (Med.), a yellowish mercurial ointment, the unquentum hydrargyri nitratis. A yellow, pellucid variety of quartz. "amine": One of a class of strongly basic substances derived from ammonia by replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms by a basic atom or radical. "carmelite": Of or pertaining to the order of Carmelites. 1. (Eccl. Hist.) A friar of a mendicant order (the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) established on Mount Carmel, in Syria, in the twelfth century; a White Friar. 2. A nun of the Order of Our lady of Mount Carmel. "basal": Relating to, or forming, the base. Basal cleavage. See under Cleavage. -- Basal plane (Crystallog.), one parallel to the lateral or horizontal axis. "tertial": Same as Tertiary. "russet": 1. Of a reddish brown color, or (by some called) a red gray; of the color composed of blue, red, and yellow in equal strength, but unequal proportions, namely, two parts of red to one each of blue and yellow; also, of a yellowish brown color. The morn, in russet mantle clad. Shak. Our summer such a russet livery wears. Dryden. 2. Coarse; homespun; rustic. [R.] Shak. 1. A russet color; a pigment of a russet color. 2. Cloth or clothing of a russet color. 3. A country dress; -- so called because often of a russet color. Dryden. 4. An apple, or a pear, of a russet color; as, the English russet, and the Roxbury russet. "cenozoic": Belonging to the most recent division of geological time, including the tertiary, or Age of mammals, and the Quaternary, or Age of man. [Written also cænozoic, cainozoic, kainozoic.] See Geology. Note: This word is used by many authors as synonymous with Tertiary, the Quaternary Age not being included. "franciscan": Belonging to the Order of St. Francis of the Franciscans. Franciscan Brothers, pious laymen who devote themselves to useful works, such as manual labor schools, and other educational institutions; -- called also Brothers of the Third Order of St. Francis. -- Franciscan Nuns, nuns who follow the rule of t. Francis, esp. those of the Second Order of St. Francis, -- called also Poor Clares or Minoresses. -- Franciscan Tertiaries, the Third Order of St. Francis. A monk or friar of the Order of St. Francis, a large and zealous order of mendicant monks founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi. They are called also Friars Minor; and in England, Gray Friars, because they wear a gray habit.

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Sen 6236 Through secondary and then tertiary studies, the children were provided for and encouraged.
1146 tarpaulin prev next
Definition
1. A piece of canvas covered with tar or a waterproof composition, used for covering the hatches of a ship, hammocks, boats, etc. 2. A hat made of, or covered with, painted or tarred cloth, worn by sailors and others. 3. Hence, a sailor; a seaman; a tar. To a landsman, these tarpaulins, as they were called, seemed a strange and half-savage race. Macaulay. "landsman": 1. One who lives on the land; -- opposed to seaman. 2. (Naut.) A sailor on his first voyage.

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Sen 6531 One notable expedition by the tiny pilferers produced a huge tarpaulin that, from its shape, had clearly been the camouflage cover for a battle tank.
1147 tarpaulins prev next
Definition  (tarpaulin)
1. A piece of canvas covered with tar or a waterproof composition, used for covering the hatches of a ship, hammocks, boats, etc. 2. A hat made of, or covered with, painted or tarred cloth, worn by sailors and others. 3. Hence, a sailor; a seaman; a tar. To a landsman, these tarpaulins, as they were called, seemed a strange and half-savage race. Macaulay. "landsman": 1. One who lives on the land; -- opposed to seaman. 2. (Naut.) A sailor on his first voyage.

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Sen 7926 The heavy trucks were covered with canvas tarpaulins.
1148 confluences prev next
Definition  (confluence)
1. The act of flowing together; the meeting or junction of two or more streams; the place of meeting. New York stood at the confluence of two rivers. Bancroft. 2. Any running together of separate streams or currents; the act of meeting and crowding in a place; hence, a crowd; a concourse; an assemblage. You see this confluence, this great flood of vistors. Shak. The confluence . . . of all true joys. Boyle. "assemblage": 1. The act of assembling, or the state o In sweet assemblage every blooming grace. Fenton. 2. A collection of individuals, or of individuals, or of particular things; as, a political assemblage; an assemblage of ideas. Syn. -- Company; group; collection; concourse; gathering; meeting; convention. Assemblage, Assembly. An assembly consists only of persons; an assemblage may be composed of things as well as persons, as, an assemblage of incoherent objects. Nor is every assemblage of persons an assembly; since the latter term denotes a body who have met, and are acting, in concert for some common end, such as to hear, to deliberate, to unite in music, dancing, etc. An assemblage of skaters on a lake, or of horse jockeys at a race course, is not an assembly, but might be turned into one by collecting into a body with a view to discuss and decide as to some object of common interest.

Difficulty: 16.36
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Sen 6288 Further on was a vast shunting area—an open space marked by dozens of railway lines and their confluences.
1149 unassailable prev next
Definition  (assail)
1. To attack with violence, or in a vehement and hostile manner; to assault; to molest; as, to assail a man with blows; to assail a city with artillery. No rude noise mine ears assailing. Cowper. No storm can now assail The charm he wears within. Keble. 2. To encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the like. The thorny wilds the woodmen fierce assail. Pope. 3. To attack morally, or with a view to produce changes in the feelings, character, conduct, existing usages, institutions; to attack by words, hostile influence, etc.; as, to assail one with appeals, arguments, abuse, ridicule, and the like. The papal authority . . . assailed. Hallam. They assailed him with keen invective; they assailed him with still keener irony. Macaulay. Syn. -- To attack; assault; invade; encounter; fall upon. See Attack. "keener": A professional mourner who wails at a funeral. [Ireland] "vehement": 1. Acting with great force; furious; violent; impetuous; forcible; mighty; as, vehement wind; a vehement torrent; a vehement fire or heat. 2. Very ardent; very eager or urgent; very fervent; passionate; as, a vehement affection or passion. "Vehement instigation." Shak. "Vehement desire." Milton. Syn. -- Furious; violent; raging; impetuous; passionate; ardent; eager; hot; fervid; burning. "invective": Characterized by invection; critical; denunciatory; satirical; abusive; railing. An expression which inveighs or rails against a person; a severe or violent censure or reproach; something uttered or written, intended to cast opprobrium, censure, or reproach on another; a harsh or reproachful accusation; -- followed by against, having reference to the person or thing affected; as an invective against tyranny. The world will be able to judge of his [Junius'] motives for writing such famous invectives. Sir W. Draper. Syn. -- Abuse; censure; reproach; satire; sarcasm; railing; diatribe. See Abuse.

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Sen 8041 The Congress Party governed India through those years with what seemed to be an unassailable lead in every national poll.
1150 acolytes prev next
Definition  (acolyte)
1. (Eccl.) One who has received the highest of the four minor orders in the Catholic church, being ordained to carry the wine and water and the lights at the Mass. 2. One who attends; an assistant. "With such chiefs, and with James and John as acolytes." Motley.

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Sen 11787 Weaving their way between them and the traders and the tourists were the dancers, singers, acrobats, musicians, fortune-tellers, temple acolytes, fire-eaters, monkey men, snake men, bear-handlers, beggars, self-flagellators, and many more who lived from the crowded street, and returned to the slums at night.
1151 ineptitude prev next
Definition
1. The quality of being inept; unfitness; inaptitude; unsuitableness. That ineptitude for society, which is frequently the fault of us scholars. Tatler. 2. Absurdity; nonsense; foolishness. "inaptitude": Want of aptitude.

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Sen 20193 For Nazeer, that stumbling ineptitude with horses was a terrible affliction, as pitiable in a man as a painfully debilitating illness.
1152 glistened prev next
Definition  (glisten)
To sparkle or shine; especially, to shine with a mild, subdued, and fitful luster; to emit a soft, scintillating light; to gleam; as, the glistening stars. Syn. -- See Flash. "fitful": Full of fits; irregularly variable; impulsive and unstable. After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well. Shak. -- Fit"ful*ly, adv. -- Fit"ful*ness, n. The victorius trumpet peal Dies fitfully away. Macaulay. "luster": One who lusts. A period of five years; a lustrum. Both of us have closed the tenth luster. Bolingbroke. 1. Brilliancy; splendor; brightness; glitter. The right mark and very true luster of the diamond. Sir T. More. The scorching sun was mounted high, In all its luster, to the noonday sky. Addison. Note: There is a tendency to limit the use of luster, in this sense, to the brightness of things which do not shine with their own light, or at least do not blaze or glow with heat. One speaks of the luster of a diamond, or of silk, or even of the stars, but not often now of the luster of the sun, a coal of fire, or the like. 2. Renown; splendor; distinction; glory. His ancestors continued about four hundred years, rather without obscurity than with any great luster. Sir H. Wotton. 3. A candlestick, chandelier, girandole, or the like, generally of an ornamental character. Pope. 4. (Min.) The appearance of the surface of a mineral as affected by, or dependent upon, peculiarities of its reflecting qualities. Note: The principal kinds of luster recognized are: metallic, adamantine, vitreous, resinous, greasy, pearly, and silky. With respect to intensity, luster is characterized as splendent, shining, glistening, glimmering, and dull. 5. A substance which imparts luster to a surface, as plumbago and some of the glazes. 6. A fabric of wool and cotton with a lustrous surface, -- used for women's dresses. Luster ware, earthenware decorated by applying to the glazing metallic oxides, which acquire brilliancy in the process of baking. To make lustrous. [R. & Poetic] Flooded and lustered with her loosened gold. Lowell.

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Sen 11967 Her black hair glistened with raindrops.
1153 convalescence prev next
Definition
The recovery of heath and strength after disease; the state of a body renewing its vigor after sickness or weakness; the time between the subsidence of a disease and complete restoration to health. "subsidence": The act or process of subsiding. The subdual or subsidence of the more violent passions. Bp. Warburton.

Difficulty: 16.36
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Sen 13700 The clean, tiled shower and soft mattress did help me to heal, but there was more to the move than physical convalescence.
1154 pretensions prev next
Definition  (pretension)
1. The act of pretending, or laying claim; the act of asserting right or title. The arrogant pretensions of Glengarry contributed to protract the discussion. Macaulay. 2. A claim made, whether true or false; a right alleged or assumed; a holding out the appearance of possessing a certain character; as, pretensions to scholarship. This was but an invention and pretension given out by the Spaniards. Bacon. Men indulge those opinions and practices that favor their pretensions. L'Estrange. "glengarry": A kind of Highland Scotch cap for men, with straight sides and a hollow top sloping to the back, where it is parted and held together by ribbons or strings. The long silk streamers of his Glengarry bonnet. L. Hutton. "protract": 1. To draw out or lengthen in time or (rarely) in space; to continue; to prolong; as, to protract an argument; to protract a war. 2. To put off to a distant time; to delay; to defer; as, to protract a decision or duty. Shak. 3. (Surv.) To draw to a scale; to lay down the lines and angles of, with scale and protractor; to plot. 4. (Zoöl.) To extend; to protrude; as, the cat can protract its claws; -- opposed to retract. Tedious continuance or delay. [Obs.] Spenser.

Difficulty: 16.35
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Sen 16732 But he lived in his magnificent house on the cliffs without the pretensions of his rank.
1155 precepts prev next
Definition  (precept)
1. Any commandment, instruction, or order intended as an authoritative rule of action; esp., a command respecting moral conduct; an injunction; a rule. For precept must be upon precept. Isa. xxviii. 10. No arts are without their precepts. Dryden. 2. (Law) A command in writing; a species of writ or process. Burrill. Syn. -- Commandment; injunction; mandate; law; rule; direction; principle; maxim. See Doctrine. To teach by precepts. [Obs.] Bacon.

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Sen 26068 Khader Khan had been dead for almost two years, but his precepts and principles still dominated the day-to-day operations of the mafia council he’d founded.
1156 archways prev next
Definition  (archway)
A way or passage under an arch.

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Sen 26418 He took short cuts through improvised shops in sheltering archways, and weaved his way along the labyrinth lines of washed, brightly coloured saris hung out to dry.
1157 scrunched prev next
Definition  (scrunch)
To scranch; to crunch. Dickens. "scranch": To grind with the teeth, and with a crackling sound; to craunch. [Prov. Eng. & Colloq. U.S.]

Difficulty: 16.34
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Sen 5642 The cop scrunched the parcel into the front of his shirt, and leaned aside to spit twice noisily, for luck.
1158 disparate prev next
Definition
1. Unequal; dissimilar; separate. Connecting disparate thoughts, purely by means of resemblances in the words expressing them. Coleridge. 2. (Logic) Pertaining to two coördinate species or divisions. "dissimilar": Not similar; unlike; heterogeneous; as, the tempers of men are as dissimilar as their features. This part very dissimilar to any other. Boyle.

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Sen 10270 Such a disparate group—the richest and the most wretched, educated and illiterate, virtuous and criminal, old and young—it seemed that the only thing they had in common was a power to make me feel … something.
1159 bluestones prev next
Definition  (bluestone)
1. Blue vitriol. Dunglison. 2. A grayish blue building stone, as that commonly used in the eastern United States. "vitriol": (a) A sulphate of any one of certain metals, as copper, iron, zinc, cobalt. So called on account of the glassy appearance or luster. (b) Sulphuric acid; -- called also oil of vitriol. So called because first made by the distillation of green vitriol. See Sulphuric acid, under Sulphuric. [Colloq.] Blue vitriol. See under Blue. -- Green vitriol, ferrous sulphate; copperas. See under Green. -- Oil of vitriol, sulphuric or vitriolic acid; -- popularly so called because it has the consistency of oil. -- Red vitriol, a native sulphate of cobalt. -- Vitriol of Mars, ferric sulphate, a white crystalline substance which dissolves in water, forming a red solution. -- White vitriol, zinc sulphate, a white crystalline substance used in medicine and in dyeing. It is usually obtained by dissolving zinc in sulphuric acid, or by roasting and oxidizing certain zinc ores. Formerly called also vitriol of zinc. "grayish": Somewhat gray.

Difficulty: 16.34
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25807 I pressed my hands down on the little mountain range of the faceted bluestones on the top of the sea wall, as if I could drive my fingers into the city and save myself by clinging to her.
1160 capitulations prev next
Definition  (capitulation)
1. A reducing to heads or articles; a formal agreement. With special capitulation that neither the Scots nor the French shall refortify. Bp. Burnet. 2. The act of capitulating or surrendering to an emeny upon stipulated terms. 3. The instrument containing the terms of an agreement or surrender. "refortify": To fortify anew. "burnet": A genus of perennial herbs (Poterium); especially, P.Sanguisorba, the common, or garden, burnet. Burnet moth (Zoöl.), in England, a handsome moth (Zygæna filipendula), with crimson spots on the wings. -- Burnet saxifrage. (Bot.) See Saxifrage. -- Canadian burnet, a marsh plant (Poterium Canadensis). -- Great burnet, Wild burnet, Poterium (or Sanguisorba) oficinalis.

Difficulty: 16.34
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Sen 314 It was just the first of countless capitulations that would, in time, come to define our relationship.
1161 observances prev next
Definition  (observance)
1. The act or practice of observing or noticing with attention; a heeding or keeping with care; performance; -- usually with a sense of strictness and fidelity; as, the observance of the Sabbath is general; the strict observance of duties. It is a custom More honored in the breach than the observance. Shak. 2. An act, ceremony, or rite, as of worship or respect; especially, a customary act or service of attention; a form; a practice; a rite; a custom. At dances These young folk kept their observances. Chaucer. Use all the observance of civility. Shak. Some represent to themselves the whole of religion as consisting in a few easy observances. Rogers. O I that wasted time to tend upon her, To compass her with sweet observances! Tennyson. 3. Servile attention; sycophancy. [Obs.] Salads and flesh, such as their haste could get, Served with observance. Chapman. This is not atheism, But court observance. Beau. & Fl. Syn. -- Observance, Observation. These words are discriminated by the two distinct senses of observe. To observe means (1) to keep strictly; as, to observe a fast day, and hence, observance denotes the keeping or heeding with strictness; (2) to consider attentively, or to remark; and hence, observation denotes either the act of observing, or some remark made as the result thereof. We do not say the observation of Sunday, though the word was formerly so used. The Pharisees were curious in external observances; the astronomers are curious in celestial observations. Love rigid honesty, And strict observance of impartial laws. Roscommon. "atheism": 1. The disbelief or denial of the existence of a God, or supreme intelligent Being. Atheism is a ferocious system, that leaves nothing above us to excite awe, nor around us to awaken tenderness. R. Hall. Atheism and pantheism are often wrongly confounded. Shipley. 2. Godlessness. "sycophancy": The character or characteristic of a sycophant. Hence: - (a) False accusation; calumniation; talebearing. [Obs.] Bp. Hall. (b) Obsequious flattery; servility. The sycophancy of A.Philips had prejudiced Mr. Addison against Pope. Bp. Warburton. "strictness": Quality or state of being strict. "servile": 1. Of or pertaining to a servant or slave; befitting a servant or a slave; proceeding from dependence; hence, meanly submissive; slavish; mean; cringing; fawning; as, servile flattery; servile fear; servile obedience. She must bend the servile knee. Thomson. Fearing dying pays death servile breath. Shak. 2. Held in subjection; dependent; enslaved. Even fortune rules no more, O servile land! Pope. 3. (Gram.) (a) Not belonging to the original root; as, a servile letter. (b) Not itself sounded, but serving to lengthen the preceeding vowel, as e in tune. An element which forms no part of the original root; -- opposed to radical.

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Sen 6910 Their punishment, for fighting about religion, was that each had to learn one complete prayer from the religious observances of the other.
1162 jubilant prev next
Definition
Uttering songs of triumph; shouting with joy; triumphant; exulting. "The jubilant age." Coleridge. While the bright pomp ascended jubilant. Milton. "exulting": Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant. -- Ex*ult"ing*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.34
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Sen 16325 Didier was jubilant, crowing over the triumph of his romantic scheme, and demanding modest tributes, in the form of stiff drinks, from everyone we knew.
1163 enclave prev next
Definition
A tract of land or a territory inclosed within another territory of which it is independent. See Exclave. [Recent] To inclose within an alien territory. [Recent] "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman. "exclave": A portion of a country which is separated from the main part and surrounded by politically alien territory. [Recent.] Note: The same territory is an enclave in respect to the surrounding country and an exclave with respect to the country to which it is politically attached.

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Sen 23165 Juma, a cameleer from the tiny Tajik enclave in the south-west of Afghanistan near Iran, volunteered to search for him.
1164 divesting prev next
Definition  (divest)
1. To unclothe; to strip, as of clothes, arms, or equipage; -- opposed to invest. 2. Fig.: To strip; to deprive; to dispossess; as, to divest one of his rights or privileges; to divest one's self of prejudices, passions, etc. Wretches divested of every moral feeling. Goldsmith. The tendency of the language to divest itself of its gutturals. Earle. 3. (Law) See Devest. Mozley & W. "devest": 1. To divest; to undress. Shak. 2. To take away, as an authority, title, etc., to deprive; to alienate, as an estate. Note: This word is now generally written divest, except in the legal sense. To be taken away, lost, or alienated, as a title or an estate. "unclothe": To strip of clothes or covering; to make naked. I. Watts. [We] do groan being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. 2 Cor. v. 4. "equipage": 1. Furniture or outfit, whether useful or ornamental; especially, the furniture and supplies of a vessel, fitting her for a voyage or for warlike purposes, or the furniture and necessaries of an army, a body of troops, or a single soldier, including whatever is necessary for efficient service; equipments; accouterments; habiliments; attire. Did their exercises on horseback with noble equipage. Evelyn. First strip off all her equipage of Pride. Pope. 2. Retinue; train; suite. Swift. 3. A carriage of state or of pleasure with all that accompanies it, as horses, liveried servants, etc., a showy turn-out. The rumbling equipages of fashion . . . were unknown in the settlement of New Amsterdam. W. Irving. "dispossess": To put out of possession; to deprive of the actual occupancy of, particularly of land or real estate; to disseize; to eject; -- usually followed by of before the thing taken away; as, to dispossess a king of his crown. Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain. Goldsmith.

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Sen 7182 The creatures displayed an inventive resourcefulness in divesting themselves of the bells or in smothering them.
1165 salivating prev next
Definition  (salivate)
To produce an abnormal flow of saliva in; to produce salivation or ptyalism in, as by the use of mercury. over.; as, salivate over the prospects of high profits from an enterprise. Note: Probably influenced by the experiments of Pavlov, who trained dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell, by previously ringing the bell immediately prior to feeding them. "ptyalism": Salivation, or an excessive flow of saliva. Quain. "salivation": The act or process of salivating; an excessive secretion of saliva, often accompained with soreness of the mouth and gums; ptyalism. Note: It may be induced by direct chemical or mechanical stimulation, as in mastication of some tasteless substance like rubber, or indirectly by some agent which affects the whole system, as mercury compounds.

Difficulty: 16.33
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Sen 13213 As they ate noisily, they threw scraps of chicken, bread, or fruit outwards to the surrounding flunkies sitting on their haunches in simian obsequiousness, and waiting with bulging eyes and salivating mouths.
1166 doormen prev next

Difficulty: 16.32
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Sen 219 There were grand hotels, with liveried doormen standing beneath coloured awnings.
1167 endowing prev next
Definition  (endow)
1. To furnish with money or its equivalent, as a permanent fund for support; to make pecuniary provision for; to settle an income upon; especially, to furnish with dower; as, to endow a wife; to endow a public institution. Endowing hospitals and almshouses. Bp. Stillingfleet. 2. To enrich or furnish with anything of the nature of a gift (as a quality or faculty); -- followed by with, rarely by of; as, man is endowed by his Maker with reason; to endow with privileges or benefits. "dower": 1. That with which one is gifted or endowed; endowment; gift. How great, how plentiful, how rich a dower! Sir J. Davies. Man in his primeval dower arrayed. Wordsworth. 2. The property with which a woman is endowed; especially: (a) That which a woman brings to a husband in marriage; dowry. [Obs.] His wife brought in dower Cilicia's crown. Dryden. (b) (Law) That portion of the real estate of a man which his widow enjoys during her life, or to which a woman is entitled after the death of her husband. Blackstone. Note: Dower, in modern use, is and should be distinguished from dowry. The former is a provision for a widow on her husband's death; the latter is a bride's portion on her marriage. Abbott. Assignment of dower. See under Assignment. "pecuniary": 1. Relating to money; monetary; as, a pecuniary penalty; a pecuniary reward. Burke.

Difficulty: 16.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5767 Khaderbhai also took a sugar cube and sipped his tea through it, endowing the little custom with a peculiar dignity and solemnity, as in fact he did with every expression and even the most casual gesture.
1168 gurgled prev next
Definition  (gurgle)
To run or flow in a broken, irregular, noisy current, as water from a bottle, or a small stream among pebbles or stones. Pure gurgling rills the lonely desert trace, And waste their music on the savage race. Young. The act of gurgling; a broken, bubbling noise. "Tinkling gurgles." W. Thompson.

Difficulty: 16.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2434 ‘Enough now, baba,’ Prabaker gurgled through his wide grin.
1169 gurgle prev next
Definition
To run or flow in a broken, irregular, noisy current, as water from a bottle, or a small stream among pebbles or stones. Pure gurgling rills the lonely desert trace, And waste their music on the savage race. Young. The act of gurgling; a broken, bubbling noise. "Tinkling gurgles." W. Thompson.

Difficulty: 16.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6347 Ranjit tilted his head back, and one of the children tipped the water in a gurgle down his throat.
1170 agonisingly prev next

Difficulty: 16.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9066 Every act of suffering, no matter how small or agonisingly great, is a test of love in some way.
1171 vestige prev next
Definition
The mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign; hence, a faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost, or has perished, or is no longer present; remains; as, the vestiges of ancient magnificence in Palmyra; vestiges of former population. What vestiges of liberty or property have they left Burke. Ridicule has followed the vestiges of Truth, but never usurped her place. Landor. Syn. -- Trace; mark; sign; token. -- Vestige, Trace. These words agree in marking some indications of the past, but differ to some extent in their use and application. Vestige is used chiefly in a figurative sense, for the remains something long passed away; as, the vestiges of ancient times; vestiges of the creation. A trace is literally something drawn out in a line, and may be used in this its primary sense, or figuratively, to denote a sign or evidence left by something that has passed by, or ceased to exist. Vestige usually supposes some definite object of the past to be left behind; while a trace may be a mere indication that something has been present or is present; as, traces of former population; a trace of poison in a given substance. "footstep": 1. The mark or impression of the foot; a track; hence, visible sign of a course pursued; token; mark; as, the footsteps of divine wisdom. How on the faltering footsteps of decay Youth presses. Bryant. 2. An inclined plane under a hand printing press. "figurative": 1. Representing by a figure, or by resemblance; typical; representative. This, they will say, was figurative, and served, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity. Hooker. 2. Used in a sense that is tropical, as a metaphor; not literal; -- applied to words and expressions. 3. Ambounding in figures of speech; flowery; florid; as, a highly figurative description. 4. Relating to the representation of form or figure by drawing, carving, etc. See Figure, n., 2. They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form. J. A. Symonds. Figurative counterpointdescant. See under Figurate. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ly, adv. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ness, n. "denote": 1. To mark out plainly; to signify by a visible sign; to serve as the sign or name of; to indicate; to point out; as, the hands of the clock denote the hour. The better to denote her to the doctor. Shak. 2. To be the sign of; to betoken; to signify; to mean. A general expression to denote wickedness of every sort. Gilpin. "palmyra": A species of palm (Borassus flabelliformis) having a straight, black, upright trunk, with palmate leaves. It is found native along the entire northern shores of the Indian Ocean, from the mouth of the Tigris to New Guinea. More than eight hundred uses to which it is put are enumerated by native writers. Its wood is largely used for building purposes; its fruit and roots serve for food, its sap for making toddy, and its leaves for thatching huts.

Difficulty: 16.32
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26657 An emotion that I couldn’t fully understand—the last vestige of anger at Ulla, perhaps, or a jealous contempt for his faith in her—made me want to shake him, and shout the truth at him, and hurt him with it.
1172 crims prev next

Difficulty: 16.31
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5175 They’d never figure that crims would be crazy enough to use a power saw, right next to the main gate.
1173 liniment prev next
Definition
A liquid or semiliquid preparation of a consistence thinner than an ointment, applied to the skin by friction, esp. one used as a sedative or a stimulant. "consistence": 1. The condition of standing or adhering together, or being fixed in union, as the parts of a body; existence; firmness; coherence; solidity. Water, being divided, maketh many circles, till it restore itself to the natural consistence. Bacon. We are as water, weak, and of no consistence. Jer. Taylor. The same form, substance, and consistency. T. Burned. 2. A degree of firmness, density, or spissitude. Let the expressed juices be boiled into the consistence of a sirup. Arbuthnot. 3. That which stands together as a united whole; a combination. The church of God, as meaning whole consistence of orders and members. Milton. 4. Firmness of constitution or character; substantiality; durability; persistency. His friendship is of a noble make and a lasting consistency. South. 5. Agreement or harmony of all parts of a complex thing among themselves, or of the same thing with itself at different times; the harmony of conduct with profession; congruity; correspondence; as, the consistency of laws, regulations, or judicial decisions; consistency of opinions; consistency of conduct or of character. That consistency of behavior whereby he inflexibly pursues those measures which appear the most just. Addison. Consistency, thou art a jewel. Popular Saying. "semiliquid": Half liquid; semifluid.

Difficulty: 16.31
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22165 And at night, enclosed within the breathing, snoring swathe of their soldier-scented sleep—smells of wood-smoke, gun oil, cheap sandalwood soap, piss, shit, sweat soaking into wet-serge, unwashed human and horse hair, liniment and saddle-softener, cumin and coriander, peppermint tooth powder, chai, tobacco, and a hundred others—I dreamed with them of homes and hearts we longed to see again.
1174 lingam prev next
Definition
The phallic symbol under which Siva is principally worshiped in his character of the creative and reproductive power. Whitworth. E. Arnold. "principally": In a principal manner; primarily; above all; chiefly; mainly.

Difficulty: 16.31
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 834 It is not exactly meaning this, but it is sounding like ling, or lingam, and that is meaning penis.’
1175 indigent prev next
Definition
1. Wanting; void; free; destitute; -- used with of. [Obs.] Bacon. 2. Destitute of property or means of comfortable subsistence; needy; poor; in want; necessitous. Indigent faint souls past corporal toil. Shak. Charity consists in relieving the indigent. Addison. "necessitous": 1. Very needy or indigent; pressed with poverty. Necessitous heirs and penurious parents. Arbuthnot. 2. Narrow; destitute; pinching; pinched; as, necessitous circumstances. -- Ne*ces"si*tous*ly, adv. -- Ne*ces"si*tous*ness, n. "subsistence": 1. Real being; existence. Not only the things had subsistence, but the very images were of some creatures existing. Stillingfleet. 2. Inherency; as, the subsistence of qualities in bodies. 3. That which furnishes support to animal life; means of support; provisions, or that which produces provisions; livelihood; as, a meager subsistence. His viceroy could only propose to himself a comfortable subsistence out of the plunder of his province. Addison. 4. (Theol.) Same as Hypostasis, 2. Hooker.

Difficulty: 16.31
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17345 It was always possible that the junkies, runaways, or indigent foreigners who’d sold their passports to our agents were wanted for some serious offence in their own or some other country.
1176 envelops prev next
Definition  (envelop)
To put a covering about; to wrap up or in; to inclose within a case, wrapper, integument or the like; to surround entirely; as, to envelop goods or a letter; the fog envelops a ship. Nocturnal shades this world envelop. J. Philips. 1. That which envelops, wraps up, encases, or surrounds; a wrapper; an inclosing cover; esp., the cover or wrapper of a document, as of a letter. 2. (Astron.) The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; -- called also coma. 3. (Fort.) A work of earth, in the form of a single parapet or of a small rampart. It is sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it. Wilhelm. 4. (Geom.) A curve or surface which is tangent to each member of a system of curves or surfaces, the form and position of the members of the system being allowed to vary according to some continuous law. Thus, any curve is the envelope of its tangents. push the envelope. It is used to refer to the maximum performance available at the current state of the technology, and therefore refers to a class of machines in general, not a specific machine. push the envelope Increase the capability of some type of machine or system; -- usu. by technological development. "integument": That which naturally invests or covers another thing, as the testa or the tegmen of a seed; specifically (Anat.), a covering which invests the body, as the skin, or a membrane that invests a particular. "nebulous": 1. Cloudy; hazy; misty. 2. (Astron.) Of, pertaining to, or having the appearance of, a nebula; nebular; cloudlike. -- Neb"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Neb"u*lous*ness, n. "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman. "parapet": 1. (Arch.) A low wall, especially one serving to protect the edge of a platform, roof, bridge, or the like. 2. (Fort.) A wall, rampart, or elevation of earth, for covering soldiers from an enemy's fire; a breastwork. See Illust. of Casemate.

Difficulty: 16.31
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19386 The sleeping universe enters and envelops every atom of existence.
1177 cloying prev next
Definition  (cloy)
1. To fill or choke up; to stop up; to clog. [Obs.] The duke's purpose was to have cloyed the harbor by sinking ships, laden with stones. Speed. 2. To glut, or satisfy, as the appetite; to satiate; to fill to loathing; to surfeit. [Who can] cloy the hungry edge of appetite By bare imagination of a feast Shak. He sometimes cloys his readers instead of satisfying. Dryden. 3. To penetrate or pierce; to wound. Which, with his cruel tusk, him deadly cloyed. Spenser. He never shod horse but he cloyed him. Bacon. 4. To spike, as a cannon. [Obs.] Johnson. 5. To stroke with a claw. [Obs.] Shak. "shod": f Shoe. "glut": 1. To swallow, or to swallow greedlly; to gorge. Though every drop of water swear against it, And gape at widest to glut him. Shak. 2. To fill to satiety; to satisfy fully the desire or craving of; to satiate; to sate; to cloy. His faithful heart, a bloody sacrifice, Torn from his breast, to glut the tyrant's eyes. Dryden. The realms of nature and of art were ransacked to glut the wonder, lust, and ferocity of a degraded populace. C. Kingsley. To glut the market, to furnish an oversupply of any article of trade, so that there is no sale for it. To eat gluttonously or to satiety. Like three horses that have broken fence, And glutted all night long breast-deep in corn. Tennyson. 1. That which is swallowed. Milton 2. Plenty, to satiety or repletion; a full supply; hence, often, a supply beyond sufficiency or to loathing; over abundance; as, a glut of the market. A glut of those talents which raise men to eminence. Macaulay. 3. Something that fills up an opening; a clog. 4. (a) A wooden wedge used in splitting blocks. [Prov. Eng.] (b) (Mining) A piece of wood used to fill up behind cribbing or tubbing. Raymond. (c) (Bricklaying) A bat, or small piece of brick, used to fill out a course. Knight. (d) (Arch.) An arched opening to the ashpit of a klin. (e) A block used for a fulcrum. 5. (Zoöl.) The broad-nosed eel (Anguilla latirostris), found in Europe, Asia, the West Indies, etc. "satiate": Filled to satiety; glutted; sated; -- followed by with or of. "Satiate of applause." Pope. 1. To satisfy the appetite or desire of; tho feed to the full; to furnish enjoyment to, to the extent of desire; to sate; as, to satiate appetite or sense. These [smells] rather woo the sense than satiate it. Bacon. I may yet survive the malice of my enemies, although they should be satiated with my blood. Eikon Basilike. 2. To full beyond matural desire; to gratify to repletion or loathing; to surfeit; to glut. 3. To saturate. [Obs.] Sir I. Newton. Syn. -- To satisfy; sate; suffice; cloy; gorge; overfill; surfeit; glut. -- Satiate, Satisfy, Content. These words differ principally in degree. To Content is to make contented, even though every desire or appetite is not fully gratified. To satisfy is to appease fully the longings of desire. To satiate is to fill so completely that it is not possible to receive or enjoy more; hence, to overfill; to cause disgust in. Content with science in the vale of peace. Pope. His whole felicity is endless strife; No peace, no satisfaction, crowns his life. Beaumont. He may be satiated, but not satisfied. Norris. "surfeit": 1. Excess in eating and drinking. Let not Sir Surfeit sit at thy board. Piers Plowman. Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made. Shak. 2. Fullness and oppression of the system, occasioned often by excessive eating and drinking. To prevent surfeit and other diseases that are incident to those that heat their blood by travels. Bunyan. 3. Disgust caused by excess; satiety. Sir P. Sidney. Matter and argument have been supplied abundantly, and even to surfeit. Burke. 1. To load the stomach with food, so that sickness or uneasiness ensues; to eat to excess. They are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing. Shak. 2. To indulge to satiety in any gratification. 1. To feed so as to oppress the stomach and derange the function of the system; to overfeed, and produce satiety, sickness, or uneasiness; -- often reflexive; as, to surfeit one's self with sweets. 2. To fill to satiety and disgust; to cloy; as, he surfeits us with compliments. V. Knox.

Difficulty: 16.30
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3190 In all the furious noise of the cloying press of bodies, I became aware of one word, repeated in an insistent and tormented mantra: Sarr … Sarr … Sarr … Sarr … Sarr …
1178 cloy prev next
Definition
1. To fill or choke up; to stop up; to clog. [Obs.] The duke's purpose was to have cloyed the harbor by sinking ships, laden with stones. Speed. 2. To glut, or satisfy, as the appetite; to satiate; to fill to loathing; to surfeit. [Who can] cloy the hungry edge of appetite By bare imagination of a feast Shak. He sometimes cloys his readers instead of satisfying. Dryden. 3. To penetrate or pierce; to wound. Which, with his cruel tusk, him deadly cloyed. Spenser. He never shod horse but he cloyed him. Bacon. 4. To spike, as a cannon. [Obs.] Johnson. 5. To stroke with a claw. [Obs.] Shak. "shod": f Shoe. "glut": 1. To swallow, or to swallow greedlly; to gorge. Though every drop of water swear against it, And gape at widest to glut him. Shak. 2. To fill to satiety; to satisfy fully the desire or craving of; to satiate; to sate; to cloy. His faithful heart, a bloody sacrifice, Torn from his breast, to glut the tyrant's eyes. Dryden. The realms of nature and of art were ransacked to glut the wonder, lust, and ferocity of a degraded populace. C. Kingsley. To glut the market, to furnish an oversupply of any article of trade, so that there is no sale for it. To eat gluttonously or to satiety. Like three horses that have broken fence, And glutted all night long breast-deep in corn. Tennyson. 1. That which is swallowed. Milton 2. Plenty, to satiety or repletion; a full supply; hence, often, a supply beyond sufficiency or to loathing; over abundance; as, a glut of the market. A glut of those talents which raise men to eminence. Macaulay. 3. Something that fills up an opening; a clog. 4. (a) A wooden wedge used in splitting blocks. [Prov. Eng.] (b) (Mining) A piece of wood used to fill up behind cribbing or tubbing. Raymond. (c) (Bricklaying) A bat, or small piece of brick, used to fill out a course. Knight. (d) (Arch.) An arched opening to the ashpit of a klin. (e) A block used for a fulcrum. 5. (Zoöl.) The broad-nosed eel (Anguilla latirostris), found in Europe, Asia, the West Indies, etc. "satiate": Filled to satiety; glutted; sated; -- followed by with or of. "Satiate of applause." Pope. 1. To satisfy the appetite or desire of; tho feed to the full; to furnish enjoyment to, to the extent of desire; to sate; as, to satiate appetite or sense. These [smells] rather woo the sense than satiate it. Bacon. I may yet survive the malice of my enemies, although they should be satiated with my blood. Eikon Basilike. 2. To full beyond matural desire; to gratify to repletion or loathing; to surfeit; to glut. 3. To saturate. [Obs.] Sir I. Newton. Syn. -- To satisfy; sate; suffice; cloy; gorge; overfill; surfeit; glut. -- Satiate, Satisfy, Content. These words differ principally in degree. To Content is to make contented, even though every desire or appetite is not fully gratified. To satisfy is to appease fully the longings of desire. To satiate is to fill so completely that it is not possible to receive or enjoy more; hence, to overfill; to cause disgust in. Content with science in the vale of peace. Pope. His whole felicity is endless strife; No peace, no satisfaction, crowns his life. Beaumont. He may be satiated, but not satisfied. Norris. "surfeit": 1. Excess in eating and drinking. Let not Sir Surfeit sit at thy board. Piers Plowman. Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made. Shak. 2. Fullness and oppression of the system, occasioned often by excessive eating and drinking. To prevent surfeit and other diseases that are incident to those that heat their blood by travels. Bunyan. 3. Disgust caused by excess; satiety. Sir P. Sidney. Matter and argument have been supplied abundantly, and even to surfeit. Burke. 1. To load the stomach with food, so that sickness or uneasiness ensues; to eat to excess. They are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that starve with nothing. Shak. 2. To indulge to satiety in any gratification. 1. To feed so as to oppress the stomach and derange the function of the system; to overfeed, and produce satiety, sickness, or uneasiness; -- often reflexive; as, to surfeit one's self with sweets. 2. To fill to satiety and disgust; to cloy; as, he surfeits us with compliments. V. Knox.

Difficulty: 16.30
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5970 The noise around me was dizzying, and the once pleasant smell of the fruits and the charras was beginning to cloy and stifle.
1179 pilfering prev next
Definition
Thieving in a small way. Shak. -- n. Petty theft. -- Pil"fer*ing*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.30
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12521 I am what they call a serial offensive, against the pilfering law.
1180 dissonance prev next
Definition
1. A mingling of discordant sounds; an inharmonious combination of sounds; discord. Filled the air with barbarous dissonance. Milton. 2. Want of agreement; incongruity. Milton. "incongruity": 1. The quality or state of being incongruous; want of congruity; unsuitableness; inconsistency; impropriety. The fathers make use of this acknowledgment of the incongruity of images to the Deity, from thence to prove the incongruity of the worship of them. Bp. Stillingfleet. 2. Disagreement of parts; want of symmetry or of harmony. [Obs.] 3. That which is incongruous; want of congruity. "inharmonious": 1. Not harmonious; unmusical; discordant; dissonant. Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh. Cowper. 2. Conflicting; jarring; not in harmony.

Difficulty: 16.30
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21662 Sitting there against a stone wall in an all-but-Stone Age village in Afghanistan, with a cargo of smuggled guns and antibiotics nearby, the dissonance created by his calm, profound discourse about good and evil, and light and life and consciousness, was enough to fill me with exasperated irritation.
1181 infiltrators prev next

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6415 Their customers were terrorists, infiltrators, separatists, or just more than usually ambitious outlaws.
1182 shelved prev next
Definition  (shelve)
1. To furnish with shelves; as, to shelve a closet or a library. 2. To place on a shelf. Hence: To lay on the shelf; to put aside; to dismiss from service; to put off indefinitely; as, to shelve an officer; to shelve a claim. To incline gradually; to be slopping; as, the bottom shelves from the shore.

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13749 The cops concerned had realised, at once, that there might be profit in keeping quiet about it, and they’d shelved my file until Vikram approached them on Khader’s behalf.
1183 hothouse prev next
Definition
1. A house kept warm to shelter tender plants and shrubs from the cold air; a place in which the plants of warmer climates may be reared, and fruits ripened. 2. A bagnio, or bathing house. [Obs.] Shak. 3. A brothel; a bagnio. [Obs.] B. Jonson. 4. (Pottery) A heated room for drying green ware. "bagnio": 1. A house for bathing, sweating, etc.; -- also, in Turkey, a prison for slaves. [Obs.] 2. A brothel; a stew; a house of prostitution.

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16316 My city was a steaming, sweltering hothouse garden of dreaming.
1184 goras prev next

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17043 ‘It would be a great help if you could get the goras for me when we need them,’ Kalpana said, offering me what seemed to be a well-practised leer.
1185 gravitas prev next

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25249 And those attitudes, their gravitas and my recusant impulse to laugh, registered the difference between us.
1186 incontrovertible prev next
Definition
Not controvertible; too clear or certain to admit of dispute; indisputable. Sir T. Browne. -- In*con`tro*ver"ti*ble*ness, n. -- In*con`tro*ver"ti*bly, adv. "controvertible": Capable of being controverted; disputable; admitting of question. -- Con`tro*ver"ti*bly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14786 There was such apodictic certitude in Khader’s every pronouncement, such a decisive, incontrovertible assurance in the man, that it informed and composed even his stillnesses and silences.
1187 sheaves prev next
Definition  (sheave)
A wheel having a groove in the rim for a rope to work in, and set in a block, mast, or the like; the wheel of a pulley. Sheave hole, a channel cut in a mast, yard, rail, or other timber, in which to fix a sheave. To gather and bind into a sheaf or sheaves; hence, to collect. Ashmole. "sheaf": A sheave. [R.] 1. A quantity of the stalks and ears of wheat, rye, or other grain, bound together; a bundle of grain or straw. The reaper fills his greedy hands, And binds the golden sheaves in brittle bands. Dryden. 2. Any collection of things bound together; a bundle; specifically, a bundle of arrows sufficient to fill a quiver, or the allowance of each archer, -- usually twenty-four. The sheaf of arrows shook and rattled in the case. Dryden. To gather and bind into a sheaf; to make into sheaves; as, to sheaf wheat. To collect and bind cut grain, or the like; to make sheaves. They that reap must sheaf and bind. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.29
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27945 It was a bizarre procession, and one so menacing that we had to work hard to make the professional beggars on the island pathway take the sheaves of rupee notes we’d brought as alms.
1188 paraphrasing prev next
Definition  (paraphrase)
A restatement of a text, passage, or work, expressing the meaning of the original in another form, generally for the sake of its clearer and fuller exposition; a setting forth the signification of a text in other and ampler terms; a free translation or rendering; -- opposed to metaphrase. In paraphrase, or translation with latitude, the author's words are not so strictly followed as his sense. Dryden. Excellent paraphrases of the Psalms of David. I. Disraeli. His sermons a living paraphrase upon his practice. Sowth. The Targums are also called the Chaldaic or Aramaic Paraphrases. Shipley. To express, interpret, or translate with latitude; to give the meaning of a passage in other language. We are put to construe and paraphrase our own words. Bp. Stillingfleet. To make a paraphrase. "construe": 1. To apply the rules of syntax to (a sentence or clause) so as to exhibit the structure, arrangement, or connection of, or to discover the sense; to explain the construction of; to interpret; to translate. 2. To put a construction upon; to explain the sense or intention of; to interpret; to understand. Thus we are put to construe and paraphrase our own words to free ourselves either from the ignorance or malice of our enemies. Bp. Stilingfleet. And to be dull was construed to be good. Pope. "signification": 1. The act of signifying; a making known by signs or other means. A signification of being pleased. Landor. All speaking or signification of one's mind implies an act or addres of one man to another. South. 2. That which is signified or made known; that meaning which a sign, character, or token is intended to convey; as, the signification of words. "chaldaic": Of or pertaining to Chaldes. -- n. The language or dialect of the Chaldeans; Chaldee. "metaphrase": 1. A verbal translation; a version or translation from one language into another, word for word; -- opposed to paraphrase. Dryden. 2. An answering phrase; repartee. Mrs. Browning. "aramaic": Pertaining to Aram, or to the territory, inhabitants, language, or literature of Syria and Mesopotamia; Aramæan; -- specifically applied to the northern branch of the Semitic family of languages, including Syriac and Chaldee. -- n. The Aramaic language.

Difficulty: 16.28
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8859 And here, in the third paragraph … I am the truth in their world of lies, I am the light in their darkness of greed, my way of blood is your freedom—he’s paraphrasing something … I am the Way and the Truth and the Light … and it’s also in the Bible.
1189 sheepskins prev next
Definition  (sheepskin)
1. The skin of a sheep; or, leather prepared from it. 2. A diploma; -- so called because usually written or printed on parchment prepared from the skin of the sheep. [College Cant]

Difficulty: 16.28
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21208 The baggage—the goods we were smuggling into Afghanistan, and our personal supplies—was scattered in a nearby pasture, covered by sheepskins and goatskins to give the appearance, if seen from the air, of a herd of livestock.
1190 unequivocal prev next
Definition
Not equivocal; not doubtful; not ambiguous; evident; sincere; plain; as, unequivocal evidence; unequivocal words. -- Un`e*quiv"o*cal*ly, adv. -- Un`e*quiv"o*cal*ness, n. "equivocal": 1. (Literally, called equally one thing or the other; hence:) Having two significations equally applicable; capable of double interpretation; of doubtful meaning; ambiguous; uncertain; as, equivocal words; an equivocal sentence. For the beauties of Shakespeare are not of so dim or equivocal a nature as to be visible only to learned eyes. Jeffrey. 2. Capable of being ascribed to different motives, or of signifying opposite feelings, purposes, or characters; deserving to be suspected; as, his actions are equivocal. "Equivocal repentances." Milton. 3. Uncertain, as an indication or sign; doubtful. "How equivocal a test." Burke. Equivocal chord (Mus.), a chord which can be resolved into several distinct keys; one whose intervals, being all minor thirds, do not clearly indicate its fundamental tone or root; the chord of the diminished triad, and the diminished seventh. Syn. -- Ambiguous; doubtful; uncertain; indeterminate. -- Equivocal, Ambiguous. We call an expression ambiguous when it has one general meaning, and yet contains certain words which may be taken in two different senses; or certain clauses which can be so connected with other clauses as to divide the mind between different views of part of the meaning intended. We call an expression equivocal when, taken as a whole, it conveys a given thought with perfect clearness and propriety, and also another thought with equal propriety and clearness. Such were the responses often given by the Delphic oracle; as that to Crambiguous is a mere blunder of language; what is equivocal is usually intended to deceive, though it may occur at times from mere inadvertence. Equivocation is applied only to cases where there is a design to deceive. A word or expression capable of different meanings; an ambiguous term; an equivoque. In languages of great ductility, equivocals like that just referred to are rarely found. Fitzed. Hall.

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Sen 27292 That unequivocal involvement, one with another, and its unquestioning support—stronger and more urgent than even the co-operation I’d seen in Prabaker’s village—was something I’d lost when I’d left the slum to live in the comfortable, richer world.
1191 inasmuch prev next
Definition
In like degree; in like manner; seeing that; considering that; since; -- followed by as. See In as much as, under In, prep. Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. Matt. xxv. 45. Syn. -- Because; since; for; as. See Because.

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Sen 27328 Jeetendra seemed to have recovered, inasmuch as such a thing is possible, from the death of his wife in the cholera epidemic.
1192 ceding prev next
Definition  (cede)
To yield or surrender; to give up; to resign; as, to cede a fortress, a province, or country, to another nation, by treaty. The people must cede to the government some of their natural rights. Jay.

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Sen 4862 That involved a staggered retreat, ceding land to the flames all the while, and then launching counter-attacks wherever the fire seemed to weaken.
1193 facilitator prev next

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Sen 8250 ‘I’m a facilitator.
1194 warble prev next
Definition
1. (Far.) (a) A small, hard tumor which is produced on the back of a horse by the heat or pressure of the saddle in traveling. (b) A small tumor produced by the larvæ of the gadfly in the backs of horses, cattle, etc. Called also warblet, warbeetle, warnles. 2. (Zoöl.) See Wormil. 1. To sing in a trilling, quavering, or vibratory manner; to modulate with turns or variations; to trill; as, certain birds are remarkable for warbling their songs. 2. To utter musically; to modulate; to carol. If she be right invoked in warbled song. Milton. Warbling sweet the nuptial lay. Trumbull. 3. To cause to quaver or vibrate. "And touch the warbled string." Milton. 1. To be quavered or modulated; to be uttered melodiously. Such strains ne'er warble in the linnet's throat. Gay. 3. To sing in a trilling manner, or with many turns and variations. "Birds on the branches warbling." Milton. 3. To sing with sudden changes from chest to head tones; to yodel. A quavering modulation of the voice; a musical trill; a song. And he, the wondrous child, Whose silver warble wild Outvalued every pulsing sound. Emerson. "gadfly": Any dipterous insect of the genus Oestrus, and allied genera of botflies. Note: The sheep gadfly (Oestrus ovis) deposits its young in the nostrils of sheep, and the larvæ develop in the frontal sinuses. The common species which infests cattle (Hypoderma bovis) deposits its eggs upon or in the skin where the larvæ or bots live and produce sores called wormels. The gadflies of the horse produce the intestinal parasites called bots. See Botfly, and Bots. The true horseflies are often erroneously called gadflies, and the true gadflies are sometimes incorrectly called breeze flies. Gadfly petrel (Zoöl.), one of several small petrels of the genus Oestrelata. "quaver": 1. To tremble; to vibrate; to shake. Sir I. Newton. 2. Especially, to shake the voice; to utter or form sound with rapid or tremulous vibrations, as in singing; also, to trill on a musical instrument To utter with quavers. We shall hear her quavering them . . . to some sprightly airs of the opera. Addison. 1. A shake, or rapid and tremulous vibration, of the voice, or of an instrument of music. 2. (Mus.) An eighth note. See Eighth. "modulate": 1. To form, as sound, to a certain key, or to a certain portion. 2. To vary or inflect in a natural, customary, or musical manner; as, the organs of speech modulate the voice in reading or speaking. Could any person so modulate her voice as to deceive so many Broome. To pass from one key into another. "modulation": 1. The act of modulating, or the state of being modulated; as, the modulation of the voice. 2. Sound modulated; melody. [R.] Thomson. 3. (Mus.) A change of key, whether transient, or until the music becomes established in the new key; a shifting of the tonality of a piece, so that the harmonies all center upon a new keynote or tonic; the art of transition out of the original key into one nearly related, and so on, it may be, by successive changes, into a key quite remote. There are also sudden and unprepared modulations. "vibratory": Consisting in, or causing, vibration, or oscillation; vibrating; as, a vibratory motion; a vibratory power. "linnet": Any one of several species of fringilline birds of the genera Linota, Acanthis, and allied genera, esp. the common European species (L. cannabina), which, in full summer plumage, is chestnut brown above, with the breast more or less crimson. The feathers of its head are grayish brown, tipped with crimson. Called also gray linnet, red linnet, rose linnet, brown linnet, lintie, lintwhite, gorse thatcher, linnet finch, and greater redpoll. The American redpoll linnet (Acanthis linaria) often has the crown and throat rosy. See Redpoll, and Twite. Green linnet (Zoöl.), the European green finch. "wormil": 1. (Zoöl.) Any botfly larva which burrows in or beneath the skin of domestic and wild animals, thus producing sores. They belong to various species of Hypoderma and allied genera. Domestic cattle are often infested by a large species. See Gadfly. Called also warble, and worble. [Written also wormal, wormul, and wornil.] 2. (Far.) See 1st Warble, 1 (b).

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Sen 19868 ‘What’s going on, Karla?’ I asked, hearing my voice crack and warble as I spoke.
1195 ceded prev next
Definition  (cede)
To yield or surrender; to give up; to resign; as, to cede a fortress, a province, or country, to another nation, by treaty. The people must cede to the government some of their natural rights. Jay.

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Sen 26236 Walid was still the head of the council that bore his name, but he was old and he was ill. He’d ceded so much power to Chuha that it was the younger don who ruled.
1196 gape prev next
Definition
1. To open the mouth wide; as: (a) Expressing a desire for food; as, young birds gape. Dryden. (b) Indicating sleepiness or indifference; to yawn. She stretches, gapes, unglues her eyes, And asks if it be time to rise. Swift. (c) Showing self-forgetfulness in surprise, astonishment, expectation, etc. With gaping wonderment had stared aghast. Byron. (d) Manifesting a desire to injure, devour, or overcome. They have gaped upon me with their mouth. Job xvi. 10. 2. To pen or part widely; to exhibit a gap, fissure, or hiatus. May that ground gape and swallow me alive! Shak. 3. To long, wait eagerly, or cry aloud for something; -- with for, after, or at. The hungry grave for her due tribute gapes. Denham. Syn. -- To gaze; stare; yawn. See Gaze. 1. The act of gaping; a yawn. Addison. 2. (Zoöl.) The width of the mouth when opened, as of birds, fishes, etc. "wonderment": Surprise; astonishment; a wonderful appearance; a wonder. Bacon. All the common sights they view, Their wonderment engage. Sir W. Scott. "aghast": To affright; to terrify. [Obs.] Chaucer. Spenser. See Agast, v. t. [Obs.] Terrified; struck with amazement; showing signs of terror or horror. Aghast he waked; and, starting from his bed, Cold sweat in clammy drops his limbs o'erspread. Dryden. The commissioners read and stood aghast. Macaulay. "gapes": (a) A fit of yawning. (b) A disease of young poultry and other birds, attended with much gaping. It is caused by a parasitic nematode worm (Syngamus trachealis), in the windpipe, which obstructs the breathing. See Gapeworm. "sleepiness": The quality or state of being sleepy.

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Sen 26616 The gape of those eyes was so unnerving in the flame-lit lane that I had to steel myself not to flinch or draw back when he reached out to put his palm on my chest.
1197 assenting prev next
Definition
Giving or implying assent. -- As*sent"ing*ly, adv.

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Sen 28355 Much closer, ocean music gushed onto the soft assenting shore, and the palms above us trembled in the cooling breeze.
1198 intricacies prev next
Definition  (intricacy)
The state or quality of being intricate or entangled; perplexity; involution; complication; complexity; that which is intricate or involved; as, the intricacy of a knot; the intricacy of accounts; the intricacy of a cause in controversy; the intricacy of a plot. Freed from intricacies, taught to live The easiest way. Milton. "perplexity": The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton. "involution": 1. The act of involving or infolding. 2. The state of being entangled or involved; complication; entanglement. All things are mixed, and causes blended, by mutual involutions. Glanvill. 3. That in which anything is involved, folded, or wrapped; envelope. Sir T. Browne. 4. (Gram.) The insertion of one or more clauses between the subject and the verb, in a way that involves or complicates the construction. 5. (Math.) The act or process of raising a quantity to any power assigned; the multiplication of a quantity into itself a given number of times; -- the reverse of evolution. 6. (Geom.) The relation which exists between three or more sets of points, a.a', b.b', c.c', so related to a point O on the line, that the product Oa.Oa' = Ob.Ob' = Oc.Oc' is constant. Sets of lines or surfaces possessing corresponding properties may be in involution. 7. (Med.) The return of an enlarged part or organ to its normal size, as of the uterus after pregnancy.

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Sen 6141 The detailed intricacies of balconies, window surrounds, and stepped facades reflected a luxurious elegance that the modern city, for all its chrome and glamour, rarely afforded itself.
1199 watermarks prev next
Definition  (watermark)
1. A mark indicating the height to which water has risen, or at which it has stood; the usual limit of high or low water. 2. A letter, device, or the like, wrought into paper during the process of manufacture. Note: "The watermark in paper is produced by bending the wires of the mold, or by wires bent into the shape of the required letter or device, and sewed to the surface of the mold; -- it has the effect of making the paper thinner in places. The old makers employed watermarks of an eccentric kind. Those of Caxton and other early printers were an oxhead and star, a collared dog's head, a crown, a shield, a jug, etc. A fool's cap and bells, employed as a watermark, gave the name to foolscap paper; a postman's horn, such as was formerly in use, gave the name to post paper." Tomlinson. 3. (Naut.) See Water line, 2. [R.] "caxton": Any book printed by William Caxton, the first English printer. Hansard. "foolscap": A writing paper made in sheets, ordinarily 16 x 13 inches, and folded so as to make a page 13 x 8 inches. See Paper. "oxhead": Literally, the head of an ox (emblem of cuckoldom); hence, a dolt; a blockhead. Dost make a mummer of me, oxhead Marston.

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Sen 15872 He examines the pages of genuine passports, looking for watermarks and concealed patterns.
1200 parapet prev next
Definition
1. (Arch.) A low wall, especially one serving to protect the edge of a platform, roof, bridge, or the like. 2. (Fort.) A wall, rampart, or elevation of earth, for covering soldiers from an enemy's fire; a breastwork. See Illust. of Casemate. "casemate": 1. (Fort.) A bombproof chamber, usually of masonry, in which cannon may be placed, to be fired through embrasures; or one capable of being used as a magazine, or for quartering troops. 2. (Arch.) A hollow molding, chiefly in cornices. "breastwork": 1. (Fort.) A defensive work of moderate height, hastily thrown up, of earth or other material. 2. (Naut.) A railing on the quarter-deck and forecastle.

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Sen 5307 I clambered over the bluestone parapet, and took hold of the cord.
1201 basalt prev next
Definition
1. (Geol.) A rock of igneous origin, consisting of augite and triclinic feldspar, with grains of magnetic or titanic iron, and also bottle- green particles of olivine frequently disseminated. Note: It is usually of a greenish black color, or of some dull brown shade, or black. It constitutes immense beds in some regions, and also occurs in veins or dikes cutting through other rocks. It has often a prismatic structure as at the Giant's Causeway, in Ireland, where the columns are as regular as if the work of art. It is a very tough and heavy rock, and is one of the best materials for macadamizing roads. 2. An imitation, in pottery, of natural basalt; a kind of black porcelain. "feldspar": A name given to a group of minerals, closely related in crystalline form, and all silicates of alumina with either potash, soda, lime, or, in one case, baryta. They occur in crystals and crystalline masses, vitreous in luster, and breaking rather easily in two directions at right angles to each other, or nearly so. The colors are usually white or nearly white, flesh-red, bluish, or greenish. Note: The group includes the monoclinic (orthoclastic) species orthoclase or common potash feldspar, and the rare hyalophane or baryta feldspar; also the triclinic species (called in general plagioclase) microcline, like orthoclase a potash feldspar; anorthite or lime feldspar; albite or soda feldspar; also intermediate between the last two species, labradorite, andesine, oligoclase, containing both lime and soda in varying amounts. The feldspars are essential constituents of nearly all crystalline rocks, as granite, gneiss, mica, slate, most kinds of basalt and trachyte, etc. The decomposition of feldspar has yielded a large part of the clay of the soil, also the mineral kaolin, an essential material in the making of fine pottery. Common feldspar is itself largely used for the same purpose. "triclinic": Having, or characterized by, three unequal axes intersecting at oblique angles. See the Note under crystallization. "augite": A variety of pyroxene, usually of a black or dark green color, occurring in igneous rocks, such as basalt; -- also used instead of the general term pyroxene. "disseminated": Occurring in small portions scattered through some other substance. "igneous": 1. Pertaining to, having the nature of, fire; containing fire; resembling fire; as, an igneous appearance. 2. (Geol.) Resulting from, or produced by, the action of fire; as, lavas and basalt are igneous rocks. "prismatic": 1. Resembling, or pertaining to, a prism; as, a prismatic form or cleavage. 2. Separated or distributed by a prism; formed by a prism; as, prismatic colors. 3. (Crystallog.) Same as Orthorhombic. Prismatic borax (Chem.), borax crystallized in the form of oblique prisms, with ten molecules of water; -- distinguished from octahedral borax. -- Prismatic colors (Opt.), the seven colors into which light is resolved when passed through a prism; primary colors. See Primary colors, under Color. -- Prismatic compass (Surv.), a compass having a prism for viewing a distant object and the compass card at the same time. -- Prismatic spectrum (Opt.), the spectrum produced by the passage of light through a prism. "olivine": A common name of the yellowish green mineral chrysolite, esp. the variety found in eruptive rocks. "greenish": Somewhat green; having a tinge of green; as, a greenish yellow. -- Green"ish*ness, n.

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Sen 22628 The anger in me was as hard and heavy as a basalt hearthstone, and I knew it would take years to wear down, but I couldn’t hate them.
1202 deplored prev next
Definition  (deplore)
1. To feel or to express deep and poignant grief for; to bewail; to lament; to mourn; to sorrow over. To find her, or forever to deplore Her loss. Milton. As some sad turtle his lost love deplores. Pope. 2. To complain of. [Obs.] Shak. 3. To regard as hopeless; to give up. [Obs.] Bacon. Syn. -- To Deplore, Mourn, Lament, Bewail, Bemoan. Mourn is the generic term, denoting a state of grief or sadness. To lament is to express grief by outcries, and denotes an earnest and strong expression of sorrow. To deplore marks a deeper and more prolonged emotion. To bewail and to bemoan are appropriate only to cases of poignant distress, in which the grief finds utterance either in wailing or in moans and sobs. A man laments his errors, and deplores the ruin they have brought on his family; mothers bewail or bemoan the loss of their children. To lament. Gray. "bemoan": To express deep grief for by moaning; to express sorrow for; to lament; to bewail; to pity or sympathize with. Implores their pity, and his pain bemoans. Dryden. Syn. -- See Deplore. "bewail": To express deep sorrow for, as by wailing; to lament; to wail over. Hath widowed and unchilded many a one, Which to this hour bewail the injury. Shak. Syn. -- To bemoan; grieve. -- See Deplore. To express grief; to lament. Shak. "utterance": 1. The act of uttering. Specifically: -- (a) Sale by offering to the public. [Obs.] Bacon. (b) Putting in circulation; as, the utterance of false coin, or of forged notes. (c) Vocal expression; articulation; speech. At length gave utterance to these words. Milton. 2. Power or style of speaking; as, a good utterance. They . . . began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts ii. 4. O, how unlike To that large utterance of the early gods! Keats. The last extremity; the end; death; outrance. [Obs.] Annibal forced those captives whom he had taken of our men to skirmish one against another to the utterance. Holland.

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Sen 4130 I was always ready, too ready, to fight for what I loved, and against what I deplored.
1203 stencils prev next
Definition  (stencil)
A thin plate of metal, leather, or other material, used in painting, marking, etc. The pattern is cut out of the plate, which is then laid flat on the surface to be marked, and the color brushed over it. Called also stencil plate. To mark, paint, or color in figures with stencils; to form or print by means of a stencil.

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Sen 8388 The fingers of his outstretched hand were stained with henna stencils.
1204 marksmen prev next

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Sen 9991 It reminded me of the look that marksmen concentrate on their targets in a firing range.
1205 inexorably prev next
Definition
In an inexorable manner; inflexibly. "Inexorably firm." Thomson. "inexorable": Not to be persuaded or moved by entreaty or prayer; firm; determined; unyielding; unchangeable; inflexible; relentless; as, an inexorable prince or tyrant; an inexorable judge. "Inexorable equality of laws." Gibbon. "Death's inexorable doom." Dryden. You are more inhuman, more inexorable, O, ten times more than tigers of Hyrcania. Shak. "inflexibly": In an inflexible manner.

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Sen 10478 The whole pack crept inexorably closer.
1206 sequential prev next
Definition
Succeeding or following in order. -- Se*quen"tial*ly, adv.

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Sen 18148 We had to ask questions and prompt her into a more sequential account, but little by little we got it all.
1207 precipitated prev next
Definition  (precipitate)
1. Overhasty; rash; as, the king was too precipitate in declaring war. Clarendon. 2. Lacking due deliberation or care; hurried; said or done before the time; as, a precipitate measure. "The rapidity of our too precipitate course." Landor. 3. Falling, flowing, or rushing, with steep descent; headlong. Precipitate the furious torrent flows. Prior. 4. Ending quickly in death; brief and fatal; as, a precipitate case of disease. [Obs.] Arbuthnot. An insoluble substance separated from a solution in a concrete state by the action of some reagent added to the solution, or of some force, such as heat or cold. The precipitate may fall to the bottom (whence the name), may be diffused through the solution, or may float at or near the surface. Red precipitate (Old. Chem), mercuric oxide (HgO) a heavy red crystalline powder obtained by heating mercuric nitrate, or by heating mercury in the air. Prepared in the latter manner, it was the precipitate per se of the alchemists. -- White precipitate (Old Chem.) (a) A heavy white amorphous powder (NH2.HgCl) obtained by adding ammonia to a solution of mercuric chloride or corrosive sublimate; -- formerly called also infusible white precipitate, and now amido-mercuric chloride. (b) A white crystalline substance obtained by adding a solution of corrosive sublimate to a solution of sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride); -- formerly called also fusible white precipitate. 1. To throw headlong; to cast down from a precipice or height. She and her horse had been precipitated to the pebbled region of the river. W. Irving. 2. To urge or press on with eager haste or violence; to cause to happen, or come to a crisis, suddenly or too soon; as, precipitate a journey, or a conflict. Back to his sight precipitates her steps. Glover. If they be daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. Bacon. 3. (Chem.) To separate from a solution, or other medium, in the form of a precipitate; as, water precipitates camphor when in solution with alcohol. The light vapor of the preceding evening had been precipitated by the cold. W. Irving. 1. To dash or fall headlong. [R.] So many fathom down precipitating. Shak. 2. To hasten without preparation. [R.] 3. (Chem.) To separate from a solution as a precipitate. See Precipitate, n. "fusible": CapabIe of being melted or liquefied. Fusible metal, any alloy of different metals capable of being easily fused, especially an alloy of five parts of bismuth, three of lead, and two of tin, which melts at a temperature below that of boiling water. Ure. -- Fusible plug (Steam Boiler), a piece of easily fusible alloy, placed in one of the sheets and intended to melt and blow off the steam in case of low water. "mercuric": Of, pertaining to, or derived from, mercury; containing mercury; -- said of those compounds of mercury into which this element enters in its lowest proportion. Mercuric chloride, corrosive sublimate. See Corrosive. "ammoniac": Of or pertaining to ammonia, or possessing its properties; as, an ammoniac salt; ammoniacal gas. Ammoniacal engine, an engine in which the vapor of ammonia is used as the motive force. -- Sal ammoniac Etym: [L. sal ammoniacus], the salt usually called chloride of ammonium, and formerly muriate of ammonia. The concrete juice (gum resin) of an umbelliferous plant, the Dorema ammoniacum. It is brought chiefly from Persia in the form of yellowish tears, which occur singly, or are aggregated into masses. It has a peculiar smell, and a nauseous, sweet taste, followed by a bitter one. It is inflammable, partially soluble in water and in spirit of wine, and is used in medicine as an expectorant and resolvent, and for the formation of certain plasters. "amorphous": 1. Having no determinate form; of irregular; shapeless. Kirwan. 2. Without crystallization in the ultimate texture of a solid substance; uncrystallized. 3. Of no particular kind or character; anomalous. Scientific treatises . . . are not seldom rude and amorphous in style. Hare. -- A*mor"phous*ly, adv. -- A*mor"phous*ness, n. "insoluble": 1. Not soluble; in capable or difficult of being dissolved, as by a liquid; as, chalk is insoluble in water. 2. Not to be solved or explained; insolvable; as, an insoluble doubt, question, or difficulty. 3. Strong. "An insoluble wall." [Obs.] Holland "overhasty": Too hasty; precipitate; rash. -- O"ver*has"ti*ly, adv. -- O`ver*has"ti*ness, n. "reagent": A substance capable of producing with another a reaction, especially when employed to detect the presence of other bodies; a test. "infusible": Capable of being infused. Doctrines being infusible into all. Hammond. Not fusible; incapble or difficalt of fusion, or of being dissolved or melted. Sir T. Browne. The best crucibles are made of Limoges earth, which seems absolutely infusible. Lavoisier (Trans. ). "clarendon": A style of type having a narrow and heave face. It is made in all sizes. Note: This line is in nonpareil Clarendon. "diffused": Spread abroad; dispersed; loose; flowing; diffuse. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion. Hawthorne. -- Dif*fus"ed*ly, adv. -- Dif*fus"ed*ness, n. "rapidity": The quality or state of being rapid; swiftness; celerity; velocity; as, the rapidity of growth or improvement. Syn. -- -- Rapidness; haste; speed; celerity; velocity; swiftness; fleetness; quickness; agility. "pebbled": Abounding in pebbles. Thomson. "sublimate": 1. To bring by heat into the state of vapor, which, on cooling, returns again to the solid state; as, to sublimate sulphur or camphor. 2. To refine and exalt; to heighten; to elevate. The precepts of Christianity are . . . so apt to cleanse and sublimate the more gross and corrupt. Dr. H. More. A product obtained by sublimation; hence, also, a purified product so obtained. Corrosive sublimate. (Chem.) See under Corrosive. Brought into a state of vapor by heat, and again condensed as a solid.

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Sen 24046 That action had precipitated the attack that was being planned by Massoud’s mujaheddin, who must’ve seen the firing as a pre-emptive strike by the Russians.
1208 pithy prev next
Definition
1. Consisting wholly, or in part, of pith; abounding in pith; as, a pithy stem; a pithy fruit. 2. Having nervous energy; forceful; cogent. This pithy speech prevailed, and all agreed. Dryden. In all these Goodman Fact was very short, but pithy. Addison. Pithy gall (Zoöl.), a large, rough, furrowed, oblong gall, formed on blackberry canes by a small gallfly (Diastrophus nebulosus). "pith": 1. (Bot.) The soft spongy substance in the center of the stems of many plants and trees, especially those of the dicotyledonous or exogenous classes. It consists of cellular tissue. 2. (a) (Zoöl.) The spongy interior substance of a feather. (b) (Anat.) The spinal cord; the marrow. 3. Hence: The which contains the strength of life; the vital or essential part; concentrated force; vigor; strength; importance; as, the speech lacked pith. Enterprises of great pith and moment. Shak. Pith paper. Same as Rice paper, under Rice. To destroy the central nervous system of (an animal, as a frog), as by passing a stout wire or needle up and down the vertebral canal. "gallfly": An insect that deposits its eggs in plants, and occasions galls, esp. any small hymenopteran of the genus Cynips and allied genera. See Illust. of Gall. "cogent": 1. Compelling, in a physical sense; powerful. [Obs.] The cogent force of nature. Prior. 2. Having the power to compel conviction or move the will; constraining; conclusive; forcible; powerful; not easily reasisted. No better nor more cogent reason. Dr. H. More. Proofs of the most cogent description. Tyndall. The tongue whose strains were cogent as commands, Revered at home, and felt in foreign lands. Cowper. Syn. -- Forcible; powerful; potent; urgent; strong; persuasive; convincing; conclusive; influential. "oblong": Having greater length than breadth, esp. when rectangular. A rectangular figure longer than it is broad; hence, any figure longer than it is broad. The best figure of a garden I esteem an oblong upon a descent. Sir W. Temple.

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Sen 2074 He added a pithy curse, for good measure, but the driver only became more enraged.
1209 congeniality prev next
Definition
The state or quality of being congenial; natural affinity; adaptation; suitableness. Sir J. Reynolds. If congeniality of tastes could have made a marriage happy, that union should have been thrice blessed. Motley. "congenial": 1. Partaking of the same nature; allied by natural characteristics; kindred; sympathetic. Congenial souls! whose life one avarice joins. Pope. 2. Naturally adapted; suited to the disposition. "Congenial clime." C. J. Fox. To defame the excellence with which it has no sympathy . . . is its congenial work. I. Taylor.

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Sen 15911 My enthusiasm fuelled their natural congeniality, and that first conversation flowed with good humour.
1210 anemones prev next
Definition  (anemone)
1. (Bot.) A genus of plants of the Ranunculus or Crowfoot family; windflower. Some of the species are cultivated in gardens. 2. (Zoöl.) The sea anemone. See Actinia, and Sea anemone. Note: This word is sometimes pronounced , especially by classical scholars. "windflower": The anemone; -- so called because formerly supposed to open only when the wind was blowing. See Anemone. "ranunculus": A genus of herbs, mostly with yellow flowers, including crowfoot, buttercups, and the cultivated ranunculi (R. Asiaticus, R. aconitifolius, etc.) in which the flowers are double and of various colors. "actinia": (a) An animal of the class Anthozoa, and family Actinidæ. From a resemblance to flowers in form and color, they are often called animal flowers and sea anemones. [See Polyp.]. (b) A genus in the family Actinidæ. "crowfoot": 1. (Bot.) The genus Ranunculus, of many species; some are common weeds, others are flowering plants of considerable beauty. 2. (Naut.) A number of small cords rove through a long block, or euphroe, to suspend an awning by. 3. (Mil.) A caltrop. [Written also crow's-foot.] 4. (Well Boring) A tool with a side claw for recovering broken rods, etc. Raymond.

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Sen 18632 In another yard some women were squatting together, washing dishes with small anemones of coir rope and a long bar of coral-coloured soap.
1211 chamois prev next
Definition
1. (Zoöl.) A small species of antelope (Rupicapra tragus), living on the loftiest mountain ridges of Europe, as the Alps, Pyrenees, etc. It possesses remarkable agility, and is a favorite object of chase. 2. A soft leather made from the skin of the chamois, or from sheepskin, etc.; -- called also chamois leather, and chammy or shammy leather. See Shammy. "shammy": 1. (Zoöl.) The chamois. 2. A soft, pliant leather, prepared originally from the skin of the chamois, but now made also from the skin of the sheep, goat, kid, deer, and calf. See Shamoying. [Written also chamois, shamoy, and shamois.] "tragus": The prominence in front of the external opening of the ear. See Illust. under Ear. "sheepskin": 1. The skin of a sheep; or, leather prepared from it. 2. A diploma; -- so called because usually written or printed on parchment prepared from the skin of the sheep. [College Cant]

Difficulty: 16.25
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20875 He had a parcel wrapped in cream chamois leather under his arm.
1212 salacious prev next
Definition
Having a propensity to venery; lustful; lecherous. Dryden. -- Sa*la"cious*ly, dv. -- Sa*la"cious*ness, n. "venery": Sexual love; sexual intercourse; coition. Contentment, without the pleasure of lawful venery, is continence; of unlawful, chastity. Grew. The art, act, or practice of hunting; the sports of the chase. "Beasts of venery and fishes." Sir T. Browne. I love hunting and venery. Chaucer.

Difficulty: 16.25
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26086 Local people knew that our branch of the mafia did a better job than the police at keeping heroin and salacious crimes from their streets.
1213 languished prev next
Definition  (languish)
1. To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to wither or fade. We . . . do languish of such diseases. 2 Esdras viii. 31. Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me landguish into life. Pope. For the fields of Heshbon languish. Is. xvi. 8. 2. To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy. Tennyson. Syn. -- To pine; wither; fade; droop; faint. To cause to dr [Obs.] Shak. Dryden. See Languishiment. [Obs. or Poetic] What, of death, too, That rids our dogs of languish Shak. And the blue languish of soft Allia's eye. Pope. "spiritless": 1. Destitute of spirit; wanting animation; wanting cheerfulness; dejected; depressed. 2. Destitute of vigor; wanting life, courage, or fire. A men so faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dead in lock, so woebegone. Shak. 3. Having no breath; extinct; dead. "The spiritless body." Greenhill. -- Spir"it*less*ly, adv. -- Spir"it*less*ness, n. "droop": 1. To hang bending downward; to sink or hang down, as an animal, plant, etc., from physical inability or exhaustion, want of nourishment, or the like. "The purple flowers droop." "Above her drooped a lamp." Tennyson. I saw him ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish. Swift. 2. To grow weak or faint with disappointment, grief, or like causes; to be dispirited or depressed; to languish; as, her spirits drooped. I'll animate the soldier's drooping courage. Addison. 3. To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline. "Then day drooped." Tennyson. To let droop or sink. [R.] M. Arnold. Like to a withered vine That droops his sapless branches to the ground. Shak. A drooping; as, a droop of the eye. "languid": 1. Drooping or flagging from exhaustion; indisposed to exertion; without animation; weak; weary; heavy; dull. " Languid, powerless limbs. " Armstrong. Fire their languid souls with Cato's virtue. Addison. 2. Slow in progress; tardy. " No motion so swift or languid." Bentley. 3. Promoting or indicating weakness or heaviness; as, a languid day. Feebly she laugheth in the languid moon. Keats. Their idleness, aimless and languid airs. W. Black. Syn. -- Feeble; weak; faint; sickly; pining; exhausted; weary; listless; heavy; dull; heartless. -- Lan"guid*ly, adv. -- Lan"guid*ness, n.

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Sen 3895 Forlorn and broken-hearted, she languished in misery and the minimal routine of caring for her daughters.
1214 welts prev next
Definition  (welt)
1. That which, being sewed or otherwise fastened to an edge or border, serves to guard, strengthen, or adorn it; as; (a) A small cord covered with cloth and sewed on a seam or border to strengthen it; an edge of cloth folded on itself, usually over a cord, and sewed down. (b) A hem, border, or fringe. [Obs.] (c) In shoemaking, a narrow strip of leather around a shoe, between the upper leather and sole. (d) In steam boilers and sheet-iron work, a strip riveted upon the edges of plates that form a butt joint. (e) In carpentry, a strip of wood fastened over a flush seam or joint, or an angle, to strengthen it. (f) In machine-made stockings, a strip, or flap, of which the heel is formed. 2. (Her.) A narrow border, as of an ordinary, but not extending around the ends. Welt joint, a joint, as of plates, made with a welt, instead of by overlapping the edges. See Weld, n., 1 (d). To furnish with a welt; to sew or fasten a welt on; as, to welt a boot or a shoe; to welt a sleeve. To wilt. [R.] "shoemaking": The business of a shoemaker.

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6689 She’d been cruelly beaten with some kind of stick, and blue-red welts crossed and slashed her back, buttocks, and legs.
1215 patchouli prev next
Definition
1. (Bot.) A mintlike plant (Pogostemon Patchouli) of the East Indies, yielding an essential oil from which a highly valued perfume is made. 2. The perfume made from this plant. Patchouly camphor (Chem.), a substance homologous with and resembling borneol, found in patchouly oil. "homologous": Having the same relative position, proportion, value, or structure. Especially: (a) (Geom.) Corresponding in relative position and proportion. In similar polygons, the corresponding sides, angles, diagonals, etc., are homologous. Davies & Peck (Math. Dict. ). (b) (Alg.) Having the same relative proportion or value, as the two antecedents or the two consequents of a proportion. (c) (Chem.) Characterized by homology; belonging to the same type or series; corresponding in composition and properties. See Homology, 3. (d) (Biol.) Being of the same typical structure; having like relations to a fundamental type to structure; as, those bones in the hand of man and the fore foot of a horse are homologous that correspond in their structural relations, that is, in thier relations to the type structure of the fore limb in vertebrates. Homologous stimulus. (Physiol.) See under Stimulus. "patchouly": 1. (Bot.) A mintlike plant (Pogostemon Patchouli) of the East Indies, yielding an essential oil from which a highly valued perfume is made. 2. The perfume made from this plant. Patchouly camphor (Chem.), a substance homologous with and resembling borneol, found in patchouly oil. "borneol": A rare variety of camphor, C10H17.OH, resembling ordinary camphor, from which it can be produced by reduction. It is said to occur in the camphor tree of Borneo and Sumatra (Dryobalanops camphora), but the natural borneol is rarely found in European or American commerce, being in great request by the Chinese. Called also Borneo camphor, Malay camphor, and camphol.

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6904 In one of those balancing contrasts of slum life, it was also the hour chosen by the incense-sellers to move through the lanes, burning their samples of sandalwood, jasmine, rose, and patchouli.
1216 biers prev next
Definition  (bier)
1. A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. 2. (Weaving) A count of forty threads in the warp or chain of woolen cloth. Knight. "woolen": 1. Made of wool; consisting of wool; as, woolen goods. 2. Of or pertaining to wool or woolen cloths; as, woolen manufactures; a woolen mill; a woolen draper. Woolen scribbler, a machine for combing or preparing wool in thin, downy, translucent layers. Cloth made of wool; woollen goods. "handbarrow": A frame or barrow, without a wheel, carried by hand.

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11771 The procession of children that ran with us behind the biers carrying those little bodies, garlanded with flowers, wailed their grief so piteously that many strangers on the busy streets paused in prayer, and felt the sudden burn and sting of tears.
1217 rasp prev next
Definition
1. To rub or file with a rasp; to rub or grate with a rough file; as, to rasp wood to make it smooth; to rasp bones to powder. 2. Hence, figuratively: To grate harshly upon; to offend by coarse or rough treatment or language; as, some sounds rasp the ear; his insults rasped my temper. 1. A coarse file, on which the cutting prominences are distinct points raised by the oblique stroke of a sharp punch, instead of lines raised by a chisel, as on the true file. 2. The raspberry. [Obs.] "Set sorrel amongst rasps, and the rasps will be smaller." Bacon. Rasp palm (Bot.), a Brazilian palm tree (Iriartea exorhiza) which has strong aërial roots like a screw pine. The roots have a hard, rough surface, and are used by the natives for graters and rasps, whence the common name. "exorhiza": A plant Whose radicle is not inclosed or sheathed by the cotyledons or plumule. Gray. "oblique": 1. Not erect or perpendicular; neither parallel to, nor at right angles from, the base; slanting; inclined. It has a direction oblique to that of the former motion. Cheyne. 2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister. The love we bear our friends... Hath in it certain oblique ends. Drayton. This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power. De Quincey. Then would be closed the restless, oblique eye. That looks for evil, like a treacherous spy. Wordworth. 3. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral. His natural affection in a direct line was strong, in an oblique but weak. Baker. Oblique angle, Oblique ascension, etc. See under Angle,Ascension, etc. -- Oblique arch (Arch.), an arch whose jambs are not at right angles with the face, and whose intrados is in consequence askew. -- Oblique bridge, a skew bridge. See under Bridge, n. -- Oblique case (Gram.), any case except the nominative. See Case, n. -- Oblique circle (Projection), a circle whose plane is oblique to the axis of the primitive plane. -- Oblique fire (Mil.), a fire the direction of which is not perpendicular to the line fired at. -- Oblique flank (Fort.), that part of the curtain whence the fire of the opposite bastion may be discovered. Wilhelm. -- Oblique leaf. (Bot.) (a) A leaf twisted or inclined from the normal position. (b) A leaf having one half different from the other. -- Oblique line (Geom.), a line that, meeting or tending to meet another, makes oblique angles with it. -- Oblique motion (Mus.), a kind of motion or progression in which one part ascends or descends, while the other prolongs or repeats the same tone, as in the accompanying example. -- Oblique muscle (Anat.), a muscle acting in a direction oblique to the mesial plane of the body, or to the associated muscles; -- applied especially to two muscles of the eyeball. -- Oblique narration. See Oblique speech. -- Oblique planes (Dialing), planes which decline from the zenith, or incline toward the horizon. -- Oblique sailing (Naut.), the movement of a ship when she sails upon some rhumb between the four cardinal points, making an oblique angle with the meridian. -- Oblique speech (Rhet.), speech which is quoted indirectly, or in a different person from that employed by the original speaker. -- Oblique sphere (Astron. & Geog.), the celestial or terrestrial sphere when its axis is oblique to the horizon of the place; or as it appears to an observer at any point on the earth except the poles and the equator. -- Oblique step (Mil.), a step in marching, by which the soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25º. It is not now practiced. Wilhelm. -- Oblique system of coördinates (Anal. Geom.), a system in which the coördinate axes are oblique to each other. An oblique line. 1. To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction. Projecting his person towards it in a line which obliqued from the bottom of his spine. Sir. W. Scott. 2. (Mil.) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; -- formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left.

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Sen 22990 I saw the fear rasp across his scarred face.
1218 loath prev next
Definition
1. Hateful; odious; disliked. [Obs.] Chaucer. 2. Filled with disgust or aversion; averse; unwilling; reluctant; as, loath to part. Full loth were him to curse for his tithes. Chaucer . Why, then, though loath, yet must I be content. Shak. "loth": See Loath, Loathly, etc.

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 28523 My shadows twirled with every street light, dragging loath behind me and then rushing on ahead.
1219 marauding prev next
Definition  (maraud)
To rove in quest of plunder; to make an excursion for booty; to plunder. "Marauding hosts." Milman. An excursion for plundering.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6529 Johnny Cigar chose to organise several street kids into a marauding band of pirates who plundered the neighbourhood for pieces of tin, canvas, and plastic.
1220 lattice prev next
Definition
1. Any work of wood or metal, made by crossing laths, or thin strips, and forming a network; as, the lattice of a window; -- called also latticework. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice. Judg. v. 28. 2. (Her.) The representation of a piece of latticework used as a bearing, the bands being vertical and horizontal. Lattice bridge, a bridge supported by lattice girders, or latticework trusses. -- Lattice girder (Arch.), a girder of which the wed consists of diagonal pieces crossing each other in the manner of latticework. -- Lattice plant (Bot.), an aquatic plant of Madagascar (Ouvirandra fenestralis), whose leaves have interstices between their ribs and cross veins, so as to resemble latticework. A second species is O. Berneriana. The genus is merged in Aponogeton by recent authors. 1. To make a lattice of; as, to lattice timbers. 2. To close, as an opening, with latticework; to furnish with a lattice; as, to lattice a window. To lattice up, to cover or inclose with a lattice. Therein it seemeth he [Alexander] hath latticed up Cæsar. Sir T. North. "latticework": Same as Lattice, n., 1. "girder": One who girds; a satirist. 1. One who, or that which, girds. 2. (Arch. & Engin.) A main beam; a stright, horizontal beam to span an opening or carry weight, such as ends of floor beams, etc.; hence, a framed or built-up member discharging the same office, technically called a compound girder. See Illusts. of Frame, and Doubleframed floor, under Double. Bowstring girder, Box girder, etc. See under Bowstring, Box, etc. -- Girder bridge. See under Bridge. -- Lattice girder, a girder consisting of longitudinal bars united by diagonal crossing bars. -- Half-lattice girder, a girder consisting of horizontal upper and lower bars connected by a series of diagonal bars sloping alternately in opposite directions so as to divide the space between the bars into a series of triangles. Knight. -- Sandwich girder, a girder consisting of two parallel wooden beams, between which is an iron plate, the whole clamped together by iron bolts. "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman.

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Sen 8414 Startled, I peered into the lattice of metal, but the room beyond it was black and I could see nothing.
1221 pyjama prev next
Definition
In India and Persia, thin loose trowsers or drawers; in Europe and America, drawers worn at night, or a kind of nightdress with legs. [Written also paijama.] "paijama": Pyjama. "trowsers": Same as Trousers. "nightdress": A nightgown.

Difficulty: 16.24
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9986 She was wearing a red silk pyjama jacket, and nothing else.
1222 latticed prev next
Definition  (lattice)
1. Any work of wood or metal, made by crossing laths, or thin strips, and forming a network; as, the lattice of a window; -- called also latticework. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice. Judg. v. 28. 2. (Her.) The representation of a piece of latticework used as a bearing, the bands being vertical and horizontal. Lattice bridge, a bridge supported by lattice girders, or latticework trusses. -- Lattice girder (Arch.), a girder of which the wed consists of diagonal pieces crossing each other in the manner of latticework. -- Lattice plant (Bot.), an aquatic plant of Madagascar (Ouvirandra fenestralis), whose leaves have interstices between their ribs and cross veins, so as to resemble latticework. A second species is O. Berneriana. The genus is merged in Aponogeton by recent authors. 1. To make a lattice of; as, to lattice timbers. 2. To close, as an opening, with latticework; to furnish with a lattice; as, to lattice a window. To lattice up, to cover or inclose with a lattice. Therein it seemeth he [Alexander] hath latticed up Cæsar. Sir T. North. "latticework": Same as Lattice, n., 1. "girder": One who girds; a satirist. 1. One who, or that which, girds. 2. (Arch. & Engin.) A main beam; a stright, horizontal beam to span an opening or carry weight, such as ends of floor beams, etc.; hence, a framed or built-up member discharging the same office, technically called a compound girder. See Illusts. of Frame, and Doubleframed floor, under Double. Bowstring girder, Box girder, etc. See under Bowstring, Box, etc. -- Girder bridge. See under Bridge. -- Lattice girder, a girder consisting of longitudinal bars united by diagonal crossing bars. -- Half-lattice girder, a girder consisting of horizontal upper and lower bars connected by a series of diagonal bars sloping alternately in opposite directions so as to divide the space between the bars into a series of triangles. Knight. -- Sandwich girder, a girder consisting of two parallel wooden beams, between which is an iron plate, the whole clamped together by iron bolts. "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman.

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Sen 10410 On our right was the fringe of the construction site, marked here and there by low piles of timber, latticed steel, and other materials.
1223 snakeskin prev next

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Sen 12890 A snakeskin pattern of lathi bruises covered their bare arms and legs.
1224 embezzlers prev next
Definition  (embezzler)
One who embezzles.

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Sen 17391 Abdul’s agents in South America, Asia, and Africa established contact with embezzlers, torturers, mandarins, and martinets who’d supported fallen tyrannies.
1225 furrowed prev next
Definition  (furrow)
1. A trench in the earth made by, or as by, a plow. 2. Any trench, channel, or groove, as in wood or metal; a wrinkle on the face; as, the furrows of age. Farrow weed a weed which grows on plowed land. Shak. -- To draw a straight furrow, to live correctly; not to deviate from the right line of duty. Lowell. 1. To cut a furrow in; to make furrows in; to plow; as, to furrow the ground or sea. Shak. 2. To mark with channels or with wrinkles. Thou canst help time to furrow me with age. Shak. Fair cheeks were furrowed with hot tears. Byron.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23810 Mazdur Gul, the stonemason, whose name means labourer, and whose hands were permanently grey-white from decades of work with granite … Daoud, who liked to be called by the English version of his name, David, and whose dream it was to visit the great city of New York and eat a meal in a fine restaurant … Zamaanat, whose name means trust, and whose brave smile concealed the agony of shame he’d felt that his whole family lived in hungry squalor at Jalozai, a huge refugee camp near Peshawar … Hajji Akbar, who’d been appointed as the doctor in the unit for no other reason than that he’d once spent two months as a patient in a Kabul hospital, and who’d greeted my acceptance of the doctor’s job, when I arrived at the mountain camp, with prayers and a little Dervish dance of joy … Alef, the mischievously satirical Pashtun trader, who died crawling in the snow with his back torn open and his clothes on fire … Juma and Hanif, the two wild boys who were killed by the madman Habib … Jalalaad, their fearless young friend, who died in the last charge … Ala-ud-Din, whose name in English is shortened to Aladdin, and who escaped unscathed … Suleiman Shahbadi, of the furrowed brow and sorrowing eyes, who died leading us into the guns.
1226 pompadour prev next
Definition
A crimson or pink color; also, a style of dress cut low and square in the neck; also, a mode of dressing the hair by drawing it straight back from the forehead over a roll; -- so called after the Marchioness de Pompadour of France. Also much used adjectively. "adjectively": In the manner of an adjective; as, a word used adjectively.

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Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24599 The thick coils of the black, pompadour wig hung slightly askew, revealing the short, sparse grey hair beneath.
1227 laborious prev next
Definition
1. Requiring labor, perseverance, or sacrifices; toilsome; tiresome. Dost thou love watchings, abstinence, or toil, Laborious virtues all Learn these from Cato. Addison. 2. Devoted to labor; diligent; industrious; as, a laborious mechanic. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ness, n. "toilsome": Attended with toil, or fatigue and pain; laborious; wearisome; as, toilsome work. What can be toilsome in these pleasant walks Milton. -- Toil"some*ly, adv. -- Toil"some*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.23
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9645 I rarely bothered with the laborious and time-consuming procedure of heating several pots of water on the kerosene stove, preferring the lazier, if less luxurious, option of a cold-water bath.
1228 cosmological prev next
Definition
Of or pertaining to cosmology.

Difficulty: 16.23
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21611 While I’d run through the summary of his cosmological model, he’d closed his eyes and nodded his head, pursing his lips in a half smile.
1229 jutted prev next
Definition  (jut)
1. To shoot out or forward; to project beyond the main body; as, the jutting part of a building. "In jutting rock and curved shore." Wordsworth. It seems to jut out of the structure of the poem. Sir T. Browne. 2. To butt. [Obs.] "The jutting steer." Mason. 1. That which projects or juts; a projection. 2. A shove; a push. [Obs.] Udall. "jutting": Projecting, as corbels, cornices, etc. -- Jut"ting*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.22
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2281 Here and there, small balconies jutted out to meet one another overhead, so close that neighbours could reach across and pass things with an out-stretched hand.
1230 fishnet prev next

Difficulty: 16.22
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Sen 2639 Ulla was dressed for work in a small, tight, black, halter-neck dress, fishnet stockings, and stiletto-heel shoes.
1231 tuft prev next
Definition
1. A collection of small, flexible, or soft things in a knot or bunch; a waving or bending and spreading cluster; as, a tuft of flowers or feathers. 2. A cluster; a clump; as, a tuft of plants. Under a tuft of shade. Milton. Green lake, and cedar fuft, and spicy glade. Keble. 3. A nobleman, or person of quality, especially in the English universities; -- so called from the tuft, or gold tassel, on the cap worn by them. [Cant, Eng.] Several young tufts, and others of the faster men. T. Hughes. 1. To separate into tufts. 2. To adorn with tufts or with a tuft. Thomson. To grow in, or form, a tuft or tufts. "tassel": A male hawk. See Tercel. A kind of bur used in dressing cloth; a teasel. 1. A pendent ornament, attached to the corners of cushions, to curtains, and the like, ending in a tuft of loose threads or cords. 2. The flower or head of some plants, esp. when pendent. And the maize field grew and ripened, Till it stood in all the splendor Of its garments green and yellow, Of its tassels and its plumage. Longfellow. 3. A narrow silk ribbon, or the like, sewed to a book to be put between the leaves. 4. (Arch.) A piece of board that is laid upon a wall as a sort of plate, to give a level surface to the ends of floor timbers; -- rarely used in the United States. Tassel flower (Bot.), a name of several composite plants of the genus Cineraria, especially the C. sconchifolia, and of the blossoms which they bear. To put forth a tassel or flower; as, maize tassels. To adorn with tassels. Chaucer.

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Sen 3608 Each thrust penetrated the thick hide, and raised a little tuft of cream brown fur.
1232 jut prev next
Definition
1. To shoot out or forward; to project beyond the main body; as, the jutting part of a building. "In jutting rock and curved shore." Wordsworth. It seems to jut out of the structure of the poem. Sir T. Browne. 2. To butt. [Obs.] "The jutting steer." Mason. 1. That which projects or juts; a projection. 2. A shove; a push. [Obs.] Udall. "jutting": Projecting, as corbels, cornices, etc. -- Jut"ting*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.22
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21582 Moreover, my short, bow-legged friend, whose bulky arms seemed to jut outward from the tree-trunk of his thick neck and chest, was by far the best dancer in the entire assembly, and quickly earned their admiration.
1233 minuscule prev next
Definition
1. Any very small, minute object. 2. A small Roman letter which is neither capital nor uncial; a manuscript written in such letters. -- a. Of the size and style of minuscules; written in minuscules. These minuscule letters are cursive forms of the earlier uncials. I. Taylor (The Alphabet). "cursive": Running; flowing. Cursive hand,a running handwriting. 1. A character used in cursive writing. 2. A manuscript, especially of the New Testament, written in small, connected characters or in a running hand; -- opposed to uncial. Shipley. "uncial": Of, pertaining to, or designating, a certain style of letters used in ancient manuscripts, esp. in Greek and Latin manuscripts. The letters are somewhat rounded, and the upstrokes and downstrokes usually have a slight inclination. These letters were used as early as the 1st century b. c., and were seldom used after the 10th century a. d., being superseded by the cursive style. An uncial letter.

Difficulty: 16.21
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8882 It was so potent, and came with such force from the water-pipe, that almost at once my bloodshot eyes failed in focus and I experienced a mild, hallucinatory effect: the blurring at the edges of other people’s faces, and a minuscule time-delay in their movements.
1234 mightily prev next
Definition
1. In a mighty manner; with might; with great earnestness; vigorously; powerfully. Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. Col. i. 29. 2. To a great degree; very much. Practical jokes amused us mightily. Hawthorne. "earnestness": The state or quality of being earnest; intentness; anxiety. An honest earnestness in the young man's manner. W. Irving. "whereunto": Same as Whereto.

Difficulty: 16.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15051 ‘I give you fair warnin’, Lin,’ Gemini said, sighing mightily.
1235 gawked prev next
Definition  (gawk)
1. A cuckoo. Johnson. 2. A simpleton; a booby; a gawky. Carlyle. To act like a gawky. "gawky": Foolish and awkward; clumsy; clownish; as, gawky behavior. -- n. A fellow who is awkward from being overgrown, or from stupidity, a gawk.

Difficulty: 16.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23354 ‘Jesus!’ I gawked.
1236 incandescent prev next
Definition
White, glowing, or luminous, with intense heat; as, incandescent carbon or platinum; hence, clear; shining; brilliant. Holy Scripture become resplendent; or, as one might say, incandescent throughout. I. Taylor. Incandescent lamp or light (Elec.), a kind of lamp in which the light is produced by a thin filament of conducting material, usually carbon, contained in a vacuum, and heated to incandescence by an electric current, as in the Edison lamp; -- called also incandescence lamp, and glowlamp. "resplendent": Shining with brilliant luster; very bright. -- Re*splen"dent*ly, adv. With royal arras and resplendent gold. Spenser. "glowlamp": 1. (Chem.) An aphlogistic lamp. See Aphlogistic. 2. (Elect.) An incandescent lamp. See Incandescent, a. "filament": A thread or threadlike object or appendage; a fiber; esp. (Bot.), the threadlike part of the stamen supporting the anther. "incandescence": A white heat, or the glowing or luminous whiteness of a body caused by intense heat.

Difficulty: 16.20
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 28294 Her eyes, pale with moonlight; her eyes, the green of water lilies after the rain; her long hair, black as forest river stones; her hair that was like holding the night itself in the wrap of my fingers; her lips, starred with incandescent light; lips of camellia-petal softness warmed with secret whispers.
1237 singe prev next
Definition
1. To burn slightly or superficially; to burn the surface of; to burn the ends or outside of; as, to singe the hair or the skin. You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, . . . Singe my white head! Shak. I singed the toes of an ape through a burning glass. L'Estrange. 2. (a) To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly over a red- hot bar, or over a flame, preliminary to dyeing it. (b) To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken or the like) by passing it over a flame. A burning of the surface; a slight burn. "sulphurous": 1. Of or pertaining to sulphur. 2. (Chem.) (a) Derived from, or containing, sulphur; specifically, designating those compounds in which the element has a lower valence as contrasted with the sulphuric compounds. (b) Having the characteristic odor of sulphur dioxide, or of hydrogen sulphide, or of other sulphur compounds. Sulphurous acid. (a) Sulphur dioxide. See under Sulphur. [Obs.] (b) An acid, H2SO3, not known in the free state except as a solution of sulphur dioxide in water, but forming a well-known series of salts (the sulphites). -- Sulphurous anhydride (Chem.), sulphur dioxide. See under Sulphur.

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5323 I felt it singe and burn.
1238 indiscernible prev next
Definition
Not to be discerned; imperceptible; not discoverable or visible. Secret and indiscernible ways. Jer. Taylor. -- In`dis*cern"i*ble*ness, n. -- In`dis*cern"i*bly, adv. "discoverable": Capable of being discovered, found out, or perceived; as, many minute animals are discoverable only by the help of the microscope; truths discoverable by human industry. "imperceptible": Not perceptible; not to be apprehended or cognized by the souses; not discernible by the mind; not easily apprehended. Almost imperceptible to the touch. Dryden. Its operation is slow, and in some cases almost imperceptible. Burke. -- Im`per*cep"ti*ble*ness, n. -- Im`per*cep"ti*bly, adv. Their . . . subility and imperceptibleness. Sir M. Hale.

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6308 The disease was indiscernible in the many children I saw.
1239 opulent prev next
Definition
Having a large estate or property; wealthy; rich; affluent; as, an opulent city; an opulent citizen. -- Op"u*lent*ly, adv. I will piece Her opulent throne with kingdoms. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13654 They, too, had caches of undeclared, untaxed money under their opulent beds.
1240 opulently prev next
Definition  (opulent)
Having a large estate or property; wealthy; rich; affluent; as, an opulent city; an opulent citizen. -- Op"u*lent*ly, adv. I will piece Her opulent throne with kingdoms. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16999 The Sea Rock, which was as luxurious and opulently serviced as the other five-star hotels in Bombay, offered the special attraction that it was literally built upon the sea rocks at Juhu.
1241 straddled prev next
Definition  (straddle)
1. To part the legs wide; to stand or to walk with the legs far apart. 2. To stand with the ends staggered; -- said of the spokes of a wagon wheel where they join the hub. To place one leg on one side and the other on the other side of; to stand or sit astride of; as, to straddle a fence or a horse. 1. The act of standing, sitting, or walking, with the feet far apart. 2. The position, or the distance between the feet, of one who straddles; as, a wide straddle. 3. A stock option giving the holder the double privilege of a "put" and a "call," i. e., securing to the buyer of the option the right either to demand of the seller at a certain price, within a certain time, certain securities, or to require him to take at the same price, and within the same time, the same securities. [Broker's Cant]

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 28077 I kicked the bike to life and straddled it, pushing away from the kerb with my legs and pointing it in the direction of Nana Chowk and Colaba.
1242 aglow prev next
Definition
In a glow; glowing; as, cheeks aglow; the landscape all aglow.

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11169 ‘I gave to him a few good whacks with the stick my own self!’ Prabaker added, his face aglow with happy excitement.
1243 saucepan prev next
Definition
A small pan with a handle, in which sauce is prepared over a fire; a stewpan. "stewpan": A pan used for stewing.

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12401 The fifteen princes, unstinting in the pursuit of their comforts, had bribed the cops to provide a small saucepan, and several plastic bottles and containers, in which to store chai and food.
1244 lichens prev next
Definition  (lichen)
1. (Bot.) One of a class of cellular, flowerless plants, (technically called Lichenes), having no distinction of leaf and stem, usually of scaly, expanded, frond-like forms, but sometimes erect or pendulous and variously branched. They derive their nourishment from the air, and generate by means of spores. The species are very widely distributed, and form irregular spots or patches, usually of a greenish or yellowish color, upon rocks, trees, and various bodies, to which they adhere with great tenacity. They are often improperly called rock moss or tree moss. Note: A favorite modern theory of lichens (called after its inventor the Schwendener hypothesis), is that they are not autonomous plants, but that they consist of ascigerous fungi, parasitic on algæ. Each lichen is composed of white filaments and green, or greenish, rounded cells, and it is argued that the two are of different nature, the one living at the expense of the other. See Hyphæ, and Gonidia. 2. (Med.) A name given to several varieties of skin disease, esp. to one characterized by the eruption of small, conical or flat, reddish pimples, which, if unchecked, tend to spread and produce great and even fatal exhaustion. "flowerless": Having no flowers. Flowerless plants, plants which have no true flowers, and produce no seeds; cryptigamous plants. "ascigerous": Having asci. Loudon. "conical": 1. Having the form of, or resembling, a geometrical cone; round and tapering to a point, or gradually lessening in circumference; as, a conic or conical figure; a conical vessel. 2. Of or pertaining to a cone; as, conic sections. Conic section (Geom.), a curved line formed by the intersection of the surface of a right cone and a plane. The conic sections are the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola. The right lines and the circle which result from certain positions of the plane are sometimes, though not generally included. -- Conic sections, that branch of geometry which treats of the parabola, ellipse, and hyperbola. -- Conical pendulum. See Pendulum. -- Conical projection, a method of delineating the surface of a sphere upon a plane surface as if projected upon the surface of a cone; -- much used by makers of maps in Europe. -- Conical surface (Geom.), a surface described by a right line moving along any curve and always passing through a fixed point that is not in the plane of that curve. "pendulous": 1. Depending; pendent loosely; hanging; swinging. Shak. "The pendulous round earth. Milton. 2. Wavering; unstable; doubtful. [R.] "A pendulous state of mind." Atterbury. 3. (Bot.) Inclined or hanging downwards, as a flower on a recurved stalk, or an ovule which hangs from the upper part of the ovary. "yellowish": Somewhat yellow; as, amber is of a yellowish color. -- Yel"low*ish*ness, n. "variously": In various or different ways. "greenish": Somewhat green; having a tinge of green; as, a greenish yellow. -- Green"ish*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.19
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21469 There were lime-green mosses on many of the rocks, and paler lichens on others.
1245 revelry prev next
Definition
The act of engaging in a revel; noisy festivity; reveling. And pomp and feast and revelry. Milton. "festivity": 1. The condition of being festive; social joy or exhilaration of spirits at an entertaintment; joyfulness; gayety. The unrestrained festivity of the rustic youth. Bp. Hurd. 2. A festival; a festive celebration. Sir T. Browne.

Difficulty: 16.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11209 Didier, too, was drawn into the avalanche of revelry that ploughed through the long lane to the street.
1246 crochet prev next
Definition
A kind of knitting done by means of a hooked needle, with worsted, silk, or cotton; crochet work. Commonly used adjectively. Crochet hook, Crochet needle, a small hook, or a hooked needle (often of bone), used in crochet work. To knit with a crochet needle or hook; as, to rochett a shawl. "adjectively": In the manner of an adjective; as, a word used adjectively. "worsted": 1. Well-twisted yarn spun of long-staple wool which has been combed to lay the fibers parallel, used for carpets, cloth, hosiery, gloves, and the like. 2. Fine and soft woolen yarn, untwisted or lightly twisted, used in knitting and embroidery.

Difficulty: 16.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15923 Photographs were substituted, and the ridge-marks or indentations of a heavy stamp were imitated, using something as humble as a crochet hook.
1247 wracked prev next
Definition  (wrack)
A thin, flying cloud; a rack. To rack; to torment. [R.] 1. Wreck; ruin; destruction. [Obs.] Chaucer. "A world devote to universal wrack." Milton. wrack and ruin 2. Any marine vegetation cast up on the shore, especially plants of the genera Fucus, Laminaria, and Zostera, which are most abundant on northern shores. 3. (Bot.) Coarse seaweed of any kind. Wrack grass, or Grass wrack (Bot.), eelgrass. To wreck. [Obs.] Dryden. "eelgrass": A plant (Zostera marina), with very long and narrow leaves, growing abundantly in shallow bays along the North Atlantic coast. "genera": See Genus. "laminaria": A genus of great seaweeds with long and broad fronds; kelp, or devil's apron. The fronds commonly grow in clusters, and are sometimes from thirty to fifty feet in length. See Illust. of Kelp. "fucus": 1. A paint; a dye; also, false show. [Obs.] 2. (Bot.) A genus of tough, leathery seaweeds, usually of a dull brownish green color; rockweed. Note: Formerly most marine alg were called fuci. "zostera": A genus of plants of the Naiadaceæ, or Pondweed family. Zostera marina is commonly known as sea wrack, and eelgrass.

Difficulty: 16.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16739 He began to cough, and attempted to clear his throat, but the cough became a fit that wracked his body in painful spasms.
1248 pornographer prev next

Difficulty: 16.18
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26088 Indeed, Salman’s mafia clan found itself in the unique position of bribing the police—the same cops who’d just been paid off by pimps and pushers—to look away whenever they had to run a recalcitrant heroin dealer into a brick wall, or take a mash hammer to a pornographer’s hands.
1249 salient prev next
Definition
1. Moving by leaps or springs; leaping; bounding; jumping. "Frogs and salient animals." Sir T. Browne. 2. Shooting out up; springing; projecting. He had in himself a salient, living spring of generous and manly action. Burke. 3. Hence, figuratively, forcing itself on the attention; prominent; conspicuous; noticeable. He [Grenville] had neither salient traits, nor general comprehensiveness of mind. Bancroft. 4. (Math. & Fort.) Projectiong outwardly; as, a salient angle; -- opposed to reëntering. See Illust. of Bastion. 5. (Her.) Represented in a leaping position; as, a lion salient. Salient angle. See Salient, a., 4. -- Salient polygon (Geom.), a polygon all of whose angles are salient. -- Salient polyhedron (Geom.), a polyhedron all of whose solid angles are salient. A salient angle or part; a projection. "polygon": A plane figure having many angles, and consequently many sides; esp., one whose perimeter consists of more than four sides; any figure having many angles. Polygon of forces (Mech.), a polygonal figure, the sides of which, taken successively, represent, in length and direction, several forces acting simultaneously upon one point, so that the side necessary to complete the figure represents the resultant of those forces. Cf. Parallelogram of forces, under Parallelogram. "bounding": Moving with a bound or bounds. The bounding pulse, the languid limb. Montgomery. "comprehensiveness": The quality of being comprehensive; extensiveness of scope. Compare the beauty and comprehensiveness of legends on ancient coins. Addison. "polyhedron": 1. (Geom.) A body or solid contained by many sides or planes. 2. (Opt.) A polyscope, or multiplying glass.

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5151 It’s a fuckin’ salient point, don’t you think?’
1250 mortifying prev next
Definition
1. Tending to mortify; affected by, or having symptoms of, mortification; as, a mortifying wound; mortifying flesh. 2. Subduing the appetites, desires, etc.; as, mortifying penances. 3. Tending to humble or abase; humiliating; as, a mortifying repulse. "repulse": 1. To repel; to beat or drive back; as, to repulse an assault; to repulse the enemy. Complete to have discovered and repulsed Whatever wiles of foe or seeming friend. Milton. 2. To repel by discourtesy, coldness, or denial; to reject; to send away; as, to repulse a suitor or a proffer. 1. The act of repelling or driving back; also, the state of being repelled or driven back. By fate repelled, and with repulses tired. Denham. He received in the repulse of Tarquin seven hurts in the body. Shak. 2. Figuratively: Refusal; denial; rejection; failure. "abase": 1. To lower or depress; to throw or cast down; as, to abase the eye. [Archaic] Bacon. Saying so, he abased his lance. Shelton. 2. To cast down or reduce low or lower, as in rank, office, condition in life, or estimation of worthiness; to depress; to humble; to degrade. Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased. Luke xiv. ll. Syn. -- To Abase, Debase, Degrade. These words agree in the idea of bringing down from a higher to a lower state. Abase has reference to a bringing down in condition or feelings; as to abase one's self before God. Debase has reference to the bringing down of a thing in purity, or making it base. It is, therefore, always used in a bad sense, as, to debase the coin of the kingdom, to debase the mind by vicious indulgence, to debase one's style by coarse or vulgar expressions. Degrade has reference to a bringing down from some higher grade or from some standard. Thus, a priest is degraded from the clerical office. When used in a moral sense, it denotes a bringing down in character and just estimation; as, degraded by intemperance, a degrading employment, etc. "Art is degraded when it is regarded only as a trade." "mortify": 1. To destroy the organic texture and vital functions of; to produce gangrene in. 2. To destroy the active powers or essential qualities of; to change by chemical action. [Obs.] Chaucer. Quicksilver is mortified with turpentine. Bacon. He mortified pearls in vinegar. Hakewill. 3. To deaden by religious or other discipline, as the carnal affections, bodily appetites, or worldly desires; to bring into subjection; to abase; to humble. With fasting mortified, worn out with tears. Harte. Mortify thy learned lust. Prior. Mortify, rherefore, your members which are upon the earth. Col. iii. 5. 4. To affect with vexation, chagrin, or humiliation; to humble; to depress. The news of the fatal battle of Worcester, which exceedingly mortified our expectations. Evelyn. How often is the ambitious man mortified with the very praises he receives, if they do not rise so high as he thinks they ought! Addison. 1. To lose vitality and organic structure, as flesh of a living body; to gangrene. 2. To practice penance from religious motives; to deaden desires by religious discipline. This makes him ... give alms of all that he hath, watch, fast, and mortify. Law. 3. To be subdued; to decay, as appetites, desires, etc. "mortification": 1. The act of mortifying, or the condition of being mortified; especially: (a) (Med.) The death of one part of an animal body, while the rest continues to live; loss of vitality in some part of a living animal; gangrene. Dunglison. (b) (Alchem. & Old Chem.) Destruction of active qualities; neutralization. [Obs.] Bacon. (c) Subjection of the passions and appetites, by penance, absistence, or painful severities inflicted on the body. The mortification of our lusts has something in it that is troublesome, yet nothing that is unreasonable. Tillotson. (d) Hence: Deprivation or depression of self-approval; abatement or pride; humiliation; chagrin; vexation. We had the mortification to lose sight of Munich, Augsburg, and Ratisbon. Addison. 2. That which mortifies; the cause of humiliation, chagrin, or vexation. It is one of the vexatious mortifications of a studious man to have his thoughts discovered by a tedious visit. L'Estrange. 3. (Scots Law) A gift to some charitable or religious institution; -- nearly synonymous with mortmain. Syn. -- Chagrin; vexation; shame. See Chagrin.

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6427 It was mortifying, a torment, and I entreated him not to do it.
1251 matchstick prev next

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5518 He pressed a ball, known as a goli, of hashish onto the end of a matchstick, and burned it with another match.
1252 seventeenth prev next
Definition
1. Next in order after the sixteenth; coming after sixteen others. In . . . the seventeenth day of the month . . . were all the fountains of the great deep broken up. Gen. vii. 11. 2. Constituting or being one of seventeen equal parts into which anything is divided. 1. The next in order after the sixteenth; one coming after sixteen others. 2. The quotient of a unit divided by seventeen; one of seventeen equal parts or divisions of one whole. 3. (Mus.) An interval of two octaves and a third. "quotient": 1. (Arith.) The number resulting from the division of one number by another, and showing how often a less number is contained in a greater; thus, the quotient of twelve divided by four is three. 2. (Higher Alg.) The result of any process inverse to multiplication. See the Note under Multiplication.

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15494 After numerous burials and disinterments, the much-exhumed body of St. Francis was finally installed in the Basilica of Bom Jesus, in Goa, in the early seventeenth century.
1253 contractual prev next

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18954 Lisa wanted that contractual agreement.
1254 impaling prev next
Definition  (impale)
1. To pierce with a pale; to put to death by fixing on a sharp stake. See Empale. Then with what life remains, impaled, and left To writhe at leisure round the bloody stake. Addison. 2. To inclose, as with pales or stakes; to surround. Impale him with your weapons round about. Shak. Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire. Milton. 3. (Her.) To join, as two coats of arms on one shield, palewise; hence, to join in honorable mention. Ordered the admission of St. Patrick to the same to be matched and impaled with the blessed Virgin in the honor thereof. Fuller. "empale": To make pale. [Obs.] No bloodless malady empales their face. G. Fletcher. 1. To fence or fortify with stakes; to surround with a line of stakes for defense; to impale. All that dwell near enemies empale villages, to save themselves from surprise. Sir W. Raleigh. 2. To inclose; to surround. See Impale. 3. To put to death by thrusting a sharpened stake through the body. 4. (Her.) Same as Impale. "writhe": 1. To twist; to turn; now, usually, to twist or turn so as to distort; to wring. "With writhing [turning] of a pin." Chaucer. Then Satan first knew pain, And writhed him to and fro. Milton. Her mouth she writhed, her forehead taught to frown. Dryden. His battle-writhen arms, and mighty hands. Tennyson. 2. To wrest; to distort; to pervert. The reason which he yieldeth showeth the least part of his meaning to be that whereunto his words are writhed. Hooker. 3. To extort; to wring; to wrest. [R.] The nobility hesitated not to follow the example of their sovereign in writhing money from them by every species of oppression. Sir W. Scott. To twist or contort the body; to be distorted; as, to writhe with agony. Also used figuratively. After every attempt, he felt that he had failed, and writhed with shame and vexation. Macaulay. "inclose": 1. To surround; to shut in; to confine on all sides; to include; to shut up; to encompass; as, to inclose a fort or an army with troops; to inclose a town with walls. How many evils have inclosed me round! Milton. 2. To put within a case, envelope, or the like; to fold (a thing) within another or into the same parcel; as, to inclose a letter or a bank note. The inclosed copies of the treaty. Sir W. Temple. 3. To separate from common grounds by a fence; as, to inclose lands. Blackstone. 4. To put into harness; to harness. [Obs.] They went to coach and their horse inclose. Chapman. "palewise": In the manner of a pale or pales; by perpendicular lines or divisions; as, to divide an escutcheon palewise.

Difficulty: 16.17
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21162 And when he captured one—and he did capture them, many of them, because he was very good at it after that—when he did capture them, he tortured them to death by impaling them on a sharpened steel spike, made from the wooden handle and the blade of the shovel he had used to bury his family.
1255 udder prev next
Definition
1. (Anat.) The glandular organ in which milk is secreted and stored; -- popularly called the bag in cows and other quadrupeds. See Mamma. A lioness, with udders all drawn dry. Shak. 2. One of the breasts of a woman. [R.] Yon Juno of majestic size, With cowlike udders, and with oxlike eyes. Pope. "glandular": Containing or supporting glands; consisting of glands; pertaining to glands. "popularly": In a popular manner; so as to be generally favored or accepted by the people; commonly; currently; as, the story was popularity reported. The victor knight, Bareheaded, popularly low had bowed. Dryden. "cowlike": Resembling a cow. With cowlike udders and with oxlike eyes. Pope. "oxlike": Characteristic of, or like, an ox.

Difficulty: 16.14
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3963 She took a glass, and squatted by the udder of the immense, black, bow-horned beast to squeeze milk.
1256 ineffectually prev next
Definition
Without effect; in vain. Hereford . . . had been besieged for abouineffectually by the Scots. Ludlow.

Difficulty: 16.14
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9339 Johnny stood in the doorway, ineffectually scolding several curious neighbours and their children away from the door.
1257 monotone prev next
Definition
1. (Mus.) A single unvaried tone or sound. 2. (Rhet.) The utterance of successive syllables, words, or sentences, on one unvaried key or line of pitch. "utterance": 1. The act of uttering. Specifically: -- (a) Sale by offering to the public. [Obs.] Bacon. (b) Putting in circulation; as, the utterance of false coin, or of forged notes. (c) Vocal expression; articulation; speech. At length gave utterance to these words. Milton. 2. Power or style of speaking; as, a good utterance. They . . . began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts ii. 4. O, how unlike To that large utterance of the early gods! Keats. The last extremity; the end; death; outrance. [Obs.] Annibal forced those captives whom he had taken of our men to skirmish one against another to the utterance. Holland.

Difficulty: 16.14
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 15662 ‘I don’t want you to go,’ she repeated in that same monotone.
1258 scapula prev next
Definition
1. (Anat.) The principal bone of the shoulder girdle in mammals; the shoulder blade. 2. (Zoöl.) One of the plates from which the arms of a crinoid arise. "crinoid": Crinoidal. -- n. One of the Crinoidea.

Difficulty: 16.14
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27822 It was high, just under the scapula.
1259 attrition prev next
Definition
1. The act of rubbing together; friction; the act of wearing by friction, or by rubbing substances together; abrasion. Effected by attrition of the inward stomach. Arbuthnot. 2. The state of being worn. Johnson. 3. (Theol.) Grief for sin arising only from fear of punishment or feelings of shame. See Contrition. Wallis.

Difficulty: 16.14
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7205 Shopkeepers and small businessmen everywhere resented that attrition of their sales and the success of the thriving slum shops.
1260 trawling prev next
Definition  (trawl)
To take fish, or other marine animals, with a trawl. 1. A fishing line, often extending a mile or more, having many short lines bearing hooks attached to it. It is used for catching cod, halibut, etc.; a boulter. [U. S. & Canada] 2. A large bag net attached to a beam with iron frames at its ends, and dragged at the bottom of the sea, -- used in fishing, and in gathering forms of marine life from the sea bottom. "boulter": A long, stout fishing line to which many hooks are attached.

Difficulty: 16.14
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17053 My mind was trawling through the possible lateral benefits in the arrangement.
1261 nightdress prev next
Definition
A nightgown.

Difficulty: 16.13
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12011 Her thin nightdress hung askew, revealing the hand-span of her ribs.
1262 brandishing prev next
Definition  (brandish)
1. To move or wave, as a weapon; to raise and move in various directions; to shake or flourish. The quivering lance which he brandished bright. Drake. 2. To play with; to flourish; as, to brandish syllogisms. A flourish, as with a weapon, whip, etc. "Brandishes of the fan." Tailer.

Difficulty: 16.13
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16564 Lisa snarled at him, brandishing the knife.
1263 unbeguiling prev next
Definition  (beguiling)
Alluring by guile; deluding; misleading; diverting. -- Be*guil"ing*ly, adv.

Difficulty: 16.13
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18663 EYES CURVED like the sword of Perseus, like the wings of hawks in flight, like the rolled lips of seashells, like eucalyptus leaves in summer—Indian eyes, dancers’ eyes, the most beautiful eyes in the world stared with honest, unbeguiling concentration into mirrors held for them by their servants.
1264 plexus prev next
Definition
1. (Anat.) A network of vessels, nerves, or fibers. 2. (Math.) The system of equations required for the complete expression of the relations which exist between a set of quantities. Brande & C.

Difficulty: 16.13
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19830 Nazeer drove a fist into my solar plexus, just under the heart.
1265 equine prev next
Definition
Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a horse. The shoulders, body, things, and mane are equine; the head completely bovine. Sir J. Barrow.

Difficulty: 16.13
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20292 The horses watched us with that peculiarly equine mix of white-eyed timorousness and snorting condescension.
1266 chastised prev next
Definition  (chastise)
1. To inflict pain upon, by means of stripes, or in any other manner, for the purpose of punishment or reformation; to punish, as with stripes. How fine my master is! I am afraid He will chastise me. Shak. I am glad to see the vanity or envy of the canting chemists thus discovered and chastised. Boyle. 2. To reduce to order or obedience; to correct or purify; to free from faults or excesses. The gay, social sense, by decency chastised. Thomson. Syn. -- See Chasten. "chasten": 1. To correct by punishment; to inflict pain upon the purpose of reclaiming; to discipline; as, to chasten a son with a rod. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. Heb. xii. 6. 2. To purify from errors or faults; to refine. They [classics] chasten and enlarge the mind, and excite to noble actions. Layard. Syn. -- To chastise; punish; correct; discipline; castigate; afflict; subdue; purify. To Chasten, Punish, Chastise. To chasten is to subject to affliction or trouble, in order to produce a general change for the better in life or character. To punish is to inflict penalty for violation of law, disobedience to authority, or intentional wrongdoing. To chastise is to punish a particular offense, as with stripes, especially with the hope that suffering or disgrace may prevent a repetition of faults. "canting": Speaking in a whining tone of voice; using technical or religious terms affectedly; affectedly pious; as, a canting rogue; a canting tone. - Cant"ing*ly, adv. -- Cant"ing*ness, n. Canting arms, Canting heraldry (Her.), bearings in the nature of a rebus alluding to the name of the bearer. Thus, the Castletons bear three castles, and Pope Adrian IV. (Nicholas Breakspeare) bore a broken spear. The use of cant; hypocrisy.

Difficulty: 16.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11644 Aunt Penny deprived Karla, punished her arbitrarily, chastised and belittled her constantly, and did everything but throw the girl into the street.
1267 viscous prev next
Definition
Adhesive or sticky, and having a ropy or glutinous consistency; viscid; glutinous; clammy; tenacious; as, a viscous juice. -- Vis"cous*ness, n. Note: There is no well-defined distinction in meaning between viscous and viscid. "vis": 1. Force; power. 2. (Law) (a) Physical force. (b) Moral power. Principle of vis viva (Mech.), the principle that the difference between the aggregate work of the accelerating forces of a system and that of the retarding forces is equal to one half the vis viva accumulated or lost in the system while the work is being done. -- Vis impressa Etym: [L.] (Mech.), force exerted, as in moving a body, or changing the direction of its motion; impressed force. -- Vis inertiæ. Etym: [L.] (a) The resistance of matter, as when a body at rest is set in motion, or a body in motion is brought to rest, or has its motion changed, either in direction or in velocity. (b) Inertness; inactivity. Vis intertiæ and inertia are not strictly synonymous. The former implies the resistance itself which is given, while the latter implies merely the property by which it is given. -- Vis mortua Etym: [L.] (Mech.), dead force; force doing no active work, but only producing pressure. -- Vis vitæ, or Vis vitalis Etym: [L.] (Physiol.), vital force. -- Vis viva Etym: [L.] (Mech.), living force; the force of a body moving against resistance, or doing work, in distinction from vis mortua, or dead force; the kinetic energy of a moving body; the capacity of a moving body to do work by reason of its being in motion. See Kinetic energy, in the Note under Energy. The term vis viva is not usually understood to include that part of the kinetic energy of the body which is due to the vibrations of its molecules. "ropy": capable of being drawn into a thread, as a glutinous substance; stringy; viscous; tenacious; glutinous; as ropy sirup; ropy lees. "viscid": Sticking or adhering, and having a ropy or glutinous consistency; viscous; glutinous; sticky; tenacious; clammy; as, turpentine, tar, gums, etc., are more or less viscid. "glutinous": 1. Of the nature of glue; resembling glue; viscous; viscid; adhesive; gluey. 2. (Bot.) Havig a moist and adhesive or sticky surface, as a leaf or gland.

Difficulty: 16.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2350 A foul smell rose up from that viscous ooze, and I kept my feet hard against the walls, sliding them along in short steps.
1268 capitulated prev next
Definition  (capitulate)
1. To settle or draw up the heads or terms of an agreement, as in chapters or articles; to agree. [Obs.] There capitulates with the king . . . to take to wife his daughter Mary. Heylin. There is no reason why the reducing of any agreement to certain heads or capitula should not be called to capitulate. Trench. 2. To surrender on terms agreed upon (usually, drawn up under several heads); as, an army or a garrison capitulates. The Irish, after holding out a week, capitulated. Macaulay. To surrender or transfer, as an army or a fortress, on certain conditions. [R.] "capitula": See Capitulum.

Difficulty: 16.12
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9895 I’d capitulated too readily, and I knew it.
1269 filament prev next
Definition
A thread or threadlike object or appendage; a fiber; esp. (Bot.), the threadlike part of the stamen supporting the anther. "stamen": 1. A thread; especially, a warp thread. 2. (pl. Stamens, rarely Stamina.) (Bot.) The male organ of flowers for secreting and furnishing the pollen or fecundating dust. It consists of the anther and filament. "anther": That part of the stamen containing the pollen, or fertilizing dust, which, when mature, is emitted for the impregnation of the ovary. -- An"ther*al, a.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2753 It was an affectionate joke, and one that we all understood, but there was a brittle filament of scorn in it, as well.
1270 guffaws prev next
Definition  (guffaw)
A loud burst of laughter, a horse laugh. "A hearty low guffaw." Carlyle.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3298 When at last he rose to leave, and I resumed my seat, he muttered such a vile curse that the other passengers sputtered into guffaws of laughter, and a couple of them commiserated with me by patting my shoulder and back.
1271 endearment prev next
Definition
The act of endearing or the state of being endeared; also, that which manifests, excites, or increases, affection. "The great endearments of prudent and temperate speech." Jer. Taylor. Her first endearments twining round the soul. Thomson. "twining": Winding around something; twisting; embracing; climbing by winding about a support; as, the hop is a twinning plant. The act of one who, or that which, twines; (Bot.) the act of climbing spirally.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 5479 It was a term of respectful endearment.
1272 lanyard prev next
Definition
1. (Naut.) A short piece of rope or line for fastening something in ships; as, the lanyards of the gun ports, of the buoy, and the like; esp., pieces passing through the dead-eyes, and used to extend shrouds, stays, etc. 2. (Mil.) A strong cord, about twelve feet long, with an iron hook at one end a handle at the other, used in firing cannon with a friction tube. "fastening": Anything that binds and makes fast, as a lock, catch, bolt, bar, buckle, etc.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17014 She wore a stopwatch around her neck on a lanyard, and carried a clipboard.
1273 stuntmen prev next

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26812 His beloved hat, surrendered with no little reluctance when he’d found himself more frequently in the boardrooms of major companies than in the stuntmen’s corral, was hanging from a hook in my apartment.
1274 frankincense prev next
Definition
A fragrant, aromatic resin, or gum resin, burned as an incense in religious rites or for medicinal fumigation. The best kinds now come from East Indian trees, of the genus Boswellia; a commoner sort, from the Norway spruce (Abies excelsa) and other coniferous trees. The frankincense of the ancient Jews is still unidentified. "abies": A genus of coniferous trees, properly called Fir, as the balsam fir and the silver fir. The spruces are sometimes also referred to this genus. "fumigation": 1. The act of fumigating, or applying smoke or vapor, as for disinfection. 2. Vapor raised in the process of fumigating. "coniferous": (a) Bearing cones, as the pine and cypress. (b) Pertaining to the order Coniferae, of which the pine tree is the type.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 28557 I moved in mists of cooking scent and shower soap, of animal stalls and kerosene lamps, of frankincense and sandalwood streaming upward from a thousand tiny temples in a thousand tiny homes.
1275 endearments prev next
Definition  (endearment)
The act of endearing or the state of being endeared; also, that which manifests, excites, or increases, affection. "The great endearments of prudent and temperate speech." Jer. Taylor. Her first endearments twining round the soul. Thomson. "twining": Winding around something; twisting; embracing; climbing by winding about a support; as, the hop is a twinning plant. The act of one who, or that which, twines; (Bot.) the act of climbing spirally.

Difficulty: 16.11
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 28621 She looked sadder and older within the soft endearments of her smile, and grieving had put a swipe of grey in the black pelt of her hair.
1276 earshot prev next
Definition
Reach of the ear; distance at which words may be heard. Dryden.

Difficulty: 16.10
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22116 The fighters felt certain that there were no enemy forces within earshot, but still we dampened its noise with a little igloo of burlap sacks that covered the engine, leaving gaps for the air inlet and exhaust gas outlet.
1277 bivouac prev next
Definition
(a) The watch of a whole army by night, when in danger of surprise or attack. (b) An encampment for the night without tents or covering. (a) To watch at night or be on guard, as a whole army. (b) To encamp for the night without tents or covering. "encamp": To form and occupy a camp; to prepare and settle in temporary habitations, as tents or huts; to halt on a march, pitch tents, or form huts, and remain for the night or for a longer time, as an army or a company traveling. The host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 1 Chron. xi. 15. To form into a camp; to place in a temporary habitation, or quarters. Bid him encamp his soldiers. Shak.

Difficulty: 16.10
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6297 From a distance, they looked like the pup tents of an army bivouac wreathed in the smoke of cooking fires.
1278 junketing prev next
Definition
A feast or entertainment; a revel. All those snug junketings and public gormandizings for which the ancient magistrates were equally famous with their modern successors. W. Irving. The apostle would have no reveling or junketing upon the altar. South.

Difficulty: 16.10
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 20467 The civilised nations responded with enthusiasm, and for years Karachi was host to junketing parties of arms-dealers from America, Britain, China, Sweden, Italy, and other countries.
1279 impassioned prev next
Definition
Actuated or characterized by passion or zeal; showing warmth of feeling; ardent; animated; excited; as, an impassioned orator or discourse.

Difficulty: 16.10
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27315 First was the bear-handlers’ impassioned appeal to the problem-solving genius of Ganesha, the Lord of Obstacles.
1280 furtive prev next
Definition
Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. A hasty and furtive ceremony. Hallam.

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25430 It was also true, and more to the point, that Sanjay was enjoying himself, standing in our conspicuous group on a warm afternoon and sparking furtive but fervent looks from most of the girls passing us on the busy street.
1281 bewilderingly prev next
Definition  (bewildering)
Causing bewilderment or great perplexity; as, bewildering difficulties. -- Be*wil"der*ing*ly, adv. "bewilderment": 1. The state of being bewildered. 2. A bewildering tangle or confusion. He . . . soon lost all traces of it amid bewilderment of tree trunks and underbrush. Hawthorne. "perplexity": The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27609 Nazeer paused only long enough to give me a bewilderingly cryptic look, part censure and part pride, part anger and part red-eyed affection, before he shoved the young Goan backwards through the circle of men.
1282 rasping prev next
Definition  (rasp)
1. To rub or file with a rasp; to rub or grate with a rough file; as, to rasp wood to make it smooth; to rasp bones to powder. 2. Hence, figuratively: To grate harshly upon; to offend by coarse or rough treatment or language; as, some sounds rasp the ear; his insults rasped my temper. 1. A coarse file, on which the cutting prominences are distinct points raised by the oblique stroke of a sharp punch, instead of lines raised by a chisel, as on the true file. 2. The raspberry. [Obs.] "Set sorrel amongst rasps, and the rasps will be smaller." Bacon. Rasp palm (Bot.), a Brazilian palm tree (Iriartea exorhiza) which has strong aërial roots like a screw pine. The roots have a hard, rough surface, and are used by the natives for graters and rasps, whence the common name. "exorhiza": A plant Whose radicle is not inclosed or sheathed by the cotyledons or plumule. Gray. "oblique": 1. Not erect or perpendicular; neither parallel to, nor at right angles from, the base; slanting; inclined. It has a direction oblique to that of the former motion. Cheyne. 2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister. The love we bear our friends... Hath in it certain oblique ends. Drayton. This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power. De Quincey. Then would be closed the restless, oblique eye. That looks for evil, like a treacherous spy. Wordworth. 3. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral. His natural affection in a direct line was strong, in an oblique but weak. Baker. Oblique angle, Oblique ascension, etc. See under Angle,Ascension, etc. -- Oblique arch (Arch.), an arch whose jambs are not at right angles with the face, and whose intrados is in consequence askew. -- Oblique bridge, a skew bridge. See under Bridge, n. -- Oblique case (Gram.), any case except the nominative. See Case, n. -- Oblique circle (Projection), a circle whose plane is oblique to the axis of the primitive plane. -- Oblique fire (Mil.), a fire the direction of which is not perpendicular to the line fired at. -- Oblique flank (Fort.), that part of the curtain whence the fire of the opposite bastion may be discovered. Wilhelm. -- Oblique leaf. (Bot.) (a) A leaf twisted or inclined from the normal position. (b) A leaf having one half different from the other. -- Oblique line (Geom.), a line that, meeting or tending to meet another, makes oblique angles with it. -- Oblique motion (Mus.), a kind of motion or progression in which one part ascends or descends, while the other prolongs or repeats the same tone, as in the accompanying example. -- Oblique muscle (Anat.), a muscle acting in a direction oblique to the mesial plane of the body, or to the associated muscles; -- applied especially to two muscles of the eyeball. -- Oblique narration. See Oblique speech. -- Oblique planes (Dialing), planes which decline from the zenith, or incline toward the horizon. -- Oblique sailing (Naut.), the movement of a ship when she sails upon some rhumb between the four cardinal points, making an oblique angle with the meridian. -- Oblique speech (Rhet.), speech which is quoted indirectly, or in a different person from that employed by the original speaker. -- Oblique sphere (Astron. & Geog.), the celestial or terrestrial sphere when its axis is oblique to the horizon of the place; or as it appears to an observer at any point on the earth except the poles and the equator. -- Oblique step (Mil.), a step in marching, by which the soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25º. It is not now practiced. Wilhelm. -- Oblique system of coördinates (Anal. Geom.), a system in which the coördinate axes are oblique to each other. An oblique line. 1. To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction. Projecting his person towards it in a line which obliqued from the bottom of his spine. Sir. W. Scott. 2. (Mil.) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; -- formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left.

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2351 Something squat and heavy slithered past me, rasping its thick body against my boot.
1283 deflections prev next
Definition  (deflection)
1. The act of turning aside, or state of being turned aside; a turning from a right line or proper course; a bending, esp. downward; deviation. The other leads to the same point, through certain deflections. Lowth. 2. (Gunnery) The deviation of a shot or ball from its true course. 3. (Opt.) A deviation of the rays of light toward the surface of an opaque body; inflection; diffraction. 4. (Engin.) The bending which a beam or girder undergoes from its own weight or by reason of a load. "girder": One who girds; a satirist. 1. One who, or that which, girds. 2. (Arch. & Engin.) A main beam; a stright, horizontal beam to span an opening or carry weight, such as ends of floor beams, etc.; hence, a framed or built-up member discharging the same office, technically called a compound girder. See Illusts. of Frame, and Doubleframed floor, under Double. Bowstring girder, Box girder, etc. See under Bowstring, Box, etc. -- Girder bridge. See under Bridge. -- Lattice girder, a girder consisting of longitudinal bars united by diagonal crossing bars. -- Half-lattice girder, a girder consisting of horizontal upper and lower bars connected by a series of diagonal bars sloping alternately in opposite directions so as to divide the space between the bars into a series of triangles. Knight. -- Sandwich girder, a girder consisting of two parallel wooden beams, between which is an iron plate, the whole clamped together by iron bolts. "inflection": 1. The act of inflecting, or the state of being inflected. 2. A bend; a fold; a curve; a turn; a twist. 3. A slide, modulation, or accent of the voice; as, the rising and the falling inflection. 4. (Gram.) The variation or change which words undergo to mark case, gender, number, comparison, tense, person, mood, voice, etc. 5. (Mus.) (a) Any change or modification in the pitch or tone of the voice. (b) A departure from the monotone, or reciting note, in chanting. 6. (Opt.) Same as Diffraction. Point of inflection (Geom.), the point on opposite sides of which a curve bends in contrary ways. "diffraction": The deflection and decomposition of light in passing by the edges of opaque bodies or through narrow slits, causing the appearance of parallel bands or fringes of prismatic colors, as by the action of a grating of fine lines or bars. Remarked by Grimaldi (1665), and referred by him to a property of light which he called diffraction. Whewell. Diffraction grating. (Optics) See under Grating. -- Diffraction spectrum. (Optics) See under Spectrum.

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10620 His skill at performing the trick was such that even when I came to know him well, even when I came to expect those sudden deviations and deflections, he still managed to catch me off guard.
1284 taffeta prev next
Definition
A fine, smooth stuff of silk, having usually the wavy luster called watering. The term has also been applied to different kinds of silk goods, from the 16th century to modern times. Lined with taffeta and with sendal. Chaucer. "luster": One who lusts. A period of five years; a lustrum. Both of us have closed the tenth luster. Bolingbroke. 1. Brilliancy; splendor; brightness; glitter. The right mark and very true luster of the diamond. Sir T. More. The scorching sun was mounted high, In all its luster, to the noonday sky. Addison. Note: There is a tendency to limit the use of luster, in this sense, to the brightness of things which do not shine with their own light, or at least do not blaze or glow with heat. One speaks of the luster of a diamond, or of silk, or even of the stars, but not often now of the luster of the sun, a coal of fire, or the like. 2. Renown; splendor; distinction; glory. His ancestors continued about four hundred years, rather without obscurity than with any great luster. Sir H. Wotton. 3. A candlestick, chandelier, girandole, or the like, generally of an ornamental character. Pope. 4. (Min.) The appearance of the surface of a mineral as affected by, or dependent upon, peculiarities of its reflecting qualities. Note: The principal kinds of luster recognized are: metallic, adamantine, vitreous, resinous, greasy, pearly, and silky. With respect to intensity, luster is characterized as splendent, shining, glistening, glimmering, and dull. 5. A substance which imparts luster to a surface, as plumbago and some of the glazes. 6. A fabric of wool and cotton with a lustrous surface, -- used for women's dresses. Luster ware, earthenware decorated by applying to the glazing metallic oxides, which acquire brilliancy in the process of baking. To make lustrous. [R. & Poetic] Flooded and lustered with her loosened gold. Lowell. "sendal": A light thin stuff of silk. [Written also cendal, and sendal.] Chaucer. Wore she not a veil of twisted sendal embroidered with silver Sir W. Scott.

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11589 There was a faint scratching sound, a whisper and scrape as of taffeta rustling, or cellophane being squeezed into a ball.
1285 amoral prev next

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17418 Abdul Ghani, propelled by the purest amoral spirit of market forces, serviced the needs of generals, mercenaries, misappropriators of public funds, and murderous interrogators without a hint of censure or dismay.
1286 underhand prev next
Definition
1. Secret; clandestine; hence, mean; unfair; fraudulent. Addison. 2. (Baseball, Cricket, etc.) Done, as pitching, with the hand lower than the shoulder, or, as bowling, with the hand lower than elbow. 1. By secret means; in a clandestine manner; hence, by fraud; unfairly. Such mean revenge, committed underhand. Dryden. Baillie Macwheeble provided Janet, underhand, with meal for their maintenance. Sir W. Scott. 2. (Baseball, Cricket, etc.) In an underhand manner; -- said of pitching or bowling. "baillie": 1. Bailiff. [Obs.] 2. Same as Bailie. [Scot.]

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17918 A man uses an underhand grip when he expects his knife, like a gun, to do the fighting for him.
1287 deflection prev next
Definition
1. The act of turning aside, or state of being turned aside; a turning from a right line or proper course; a bending, esp. downward; deviation. The other leads to the same point, through certain deflections. Lowth. 2. (Gunnery) The deviation of a shot or ball from its true course. 3. (Opt.) A deviation of the rays of light toward the surface of an opaque body; inflection; diffraction. 4. (Engin.) The bending which a beam or girder undergoes from its own weight or by reason of a load. "girder": One who girds; a satirist. 1. One who, or that which, girds. 2. (Arch. & Engin.) A main beam; a stright, horizontal beam to span an opening or carry weight, such as ends of floor beams, etc.; hence, a framed or built-up member discharging the same office, technically called a compound girder. See Illusts. of Frame, and Doubleframed floor, under Double. Bowstring girder, Box girder, etc. See under Bowstring, Box, etc. -- Girder bridge. See under Bridge. -- Lattice girder, a girder consisting of longitudinal bars united by diagonal crossing bars. -- Half-lattice girder, a girder consisting of horizontal upper and lower bars connected by a series of diagonal bars sloping alternately in opposite directions so as to divide the space between the bars into a series of triangles. Knight. -- Sandwich girder, a girder consisting of two parallel wooden beams, between which is an iron plate, the whole clamped together by iron bolts. "inflection": 1. The act of inflecting, or the state of being inflected. 2. A bend; a fold; a curve; a turn; a twist. 3. A slide, modulation, or accent of the voice; as, the rising and the falling inflection. 4. (Gram.) The variation or change which words undergo to mark case, gender, number, comparison, tense, person, mood, voice, etc. 5. (Mus.) (a) Any change or modification in the pitch or tone of the voice. (b) A departure from the monotone, or reciting note, in chanting. 6. (Opt.) Same as Diffraction. Point of inflection (Geom.), the point on opposite sides of which a curve bends in contrary ways. "diffraction": The deflection and decomposition of light in passing by the edges of opaque bodies or through narrow slits, causing the appearance of parallel bands or fringes of prismatic colors, as by the action of a grating of fine lines or bars. Remarked by Grimaldi (1665), and referred by him to a property of light which he called diffraction. Whewell. Diffraction grating. (Optics) See under Grating. -- Diffraction spectrum. (Optics) See under Spectrum.

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17946 I struck bone more than once, feeling the jarring deflection all the way up my arm.
1288 pandered prev next
Definition  (pander)
1. A male bawd; a pimp; a procurer. Thou art the pander to her dishonor. Shak. 2. Hence, one who ministers to the evil designs and passions of another. Those wicked panders to avarice and ambition. Burke. To play the pander for. To act the part of a pander. "bawd": A person who keeps a house of prostitution, or procures women for a lewd purpose; a procurer or procuress; a lewd person; -- usually applied to a woman. To procure women for lewd purposes. "procurer": 1. One who procures, or obtains; one who, or that which, brings on, or causes to be done, esp. by corrupt means. 2. One who procures the gratification of lust for another; a pimp; a pander. South.

Difficulty: 16.09
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18104 Then he met Maurizio, and for two years he’d pandered for the pimp, procuring clients and putting them together with the girls in Maurizio’s stable.
1289 philanderer prev next
Definition
One who hangs about women; a male flirt. [R.] C. Kingsley.

Difficulty: 16.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17581 That style was two parts showman, two parts flatterer, and one part philanderer, combined with a hint of mischief, a sniff of condescension, and a pinch of contempt.
1290 panoramic prev next
Definition
Of, pertaining to, or like, a panorama. Panoramic camera. See under Camera.

Difficulty: 16.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22173 For once, the cloudy mists and snow had cleared enough for us to take in the whole, panoramic sweep of the view.
1291 cheekbone prev next

Difficulty: 16.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18017 Ulla bore a cut on her face from the cheekbone almost to the chin.
1292 instigator prev next
Definition
One who instigates or incites. Burke.

Difficulty: 16.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19444 It took me a while to understand that anger, and to realise that Khaderbhai was its instigator and its target.
1293 lampshade prev next

Difficulty: 16.08
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 19730 The room I chose had a cot with a kapok mattress, a weathered carpet, a small cabinet with wickerwork doors, a lamp with a silk lampshade, and a large clay matka filled with water.
1294 affable prev next
Definition
1. Easy to be spoken to or addressed; receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner; courteous; sociable. An affable and courteous gentleman. Shak. His manners polite and affable. Macaulay. 2. Gracious; mild; benign. A serene and affable countenance. Tatler. Syn. -- Courteous; civil; complaisant; accessible; mild; benign; condescending. "complaisant": Desirous to please; courteous; obliging; compliant; as, a complaisant gentleman. There are to whom my satire seems too bold: Scarce to wise Peter complaisant enough. Pope. Syn. -- Obliging; courteous; affable; gracious; civil; polite; well-bred. See Obliging. -- Com"plai*sant`ly, adv. -- Com"plai*sant`ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.07
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8079 ‘Hey come on!’ she chided, curling her lip in an affable smirk.
1295 straddling prev next
Definition
Applied to spokes when they are arranged alternately in two circles in the hub. See Straddle, v. i., and Straddle, v. t., 3. Knight. "straddle": 1. To part the legs wide; to stand or to walk with the legs far apart. 2. To stand with the ends staggered; -- said of the spokes of a wagon wheel where they join the hub. To place one leg on one side and the other on the other side of; to stand or sit astride of; as, to straddle a fence or a horse. 1. The act of standing, sitting, or walking, with the feet far apart. 2. The position, or the distance between the feet, of one who straddles; as, a wide straddle. 3. A stock option giving the holder the double privilege of a "put" and a "call," i. e., securing to the buyer of the option the right either to demand of the seller at a certain price, within a certain time, certain securities, or to require him to take at the same price, and within the same time, the same securities. [Broker's Cant] "alternately": 1. In reciprocal succession; succeeding by turns; in alternate order. 2. (Math.) By alternation; when, in a proportion, the antecedent term is compared with antecedent, and consequent.

Difficulty: 16.07
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9993 I sat on a straight-backed chair, straddling it, so that my forearms could rest on the back.
1296 recusant prev next
Definition
Obstinate in refusal; specifically, in English history, refusing to acknowledge the supremacy of the king in the churc, or to conform to the established rites of the church; as, a recusant lord. It stated him to have placed his son in the household of the Countess of Derby, a recusant papist. Sir W. Scott. 1. One who is obstinate in refusal; one standing out stubbornly against general practice or opinion. The last rebellious recusants among the European family of nations. De Quincey. 2. (Eng. Hist.) A person who refuses to acknowledge the supremacy of the king in matters of religion; as, a Roman Catholic recusant, who acknowledges the supremacy of the pope. Brande & C. 3. One who refuses communion with the Church of England; a nonconformist. All that are recusants of holy rites. Holyday. "hist": Hush; be silent; -- a signal for silence. Milton. "holyday": 1. A religious festival. 2. A secular festival; a holiday. Note: Holiday is the preferable and prevailing spelling in the second sense. The spelling holy day or holyday in often used in the first sense. "papist": A Roman catholic; one who adheres to the Church of Rome and the authority of the pope; -- an offensive designation applied to Roman Catholics by their opponents. "nonconformist": One who does not conform to an established church; especially, one who does not conform to the established church of England; a dissenter.

Difficulty: 16.07
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 25249 And those attitudes, their gravitas and my recusant impulse to laugh, registered the difference between us.
1297 mountaineers prev next
Definition  (mountaineer)
1. An inhabitant of a mountain; one who lives among mountains. 2. A rude, fierce person. [Obs.] No savage fierce, bandit, or mountaineer. Milton. To lie or act as a mountaineer; to climb mountains. You can't go mountaineering in a flat country. H. James. "inhabitant": 1. One who dwells or resides permanently in a place, as distinguished from a transient lodger or visitor; as, an inhabitant of a house, a town, a city, county, or state. "Frail inhabitants of earth." Cowper. In this place, they report that they saw inhabitants which were very fair and fat people. Abp. Abbot. 2. (Law) One who has a legal settlement in a town, city, or parish; a permanent resident.

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Sen 7611 It’s sort of like a base camp that mountaineers use when they climb Everest.’
1298 vestibule prev next
Definition
The porch or entrance into a house; a hall or antechamber next the entrance; a lobby; a porch; a hall. Vestibule of the ear. (Anat.) See under Ear. -- Vestibule of the vulva (Anat.), a triangular space between the nymphæ, in which the orifice of the urethra is situated. -- Vestibule train (Railroads), a train of passenger cars having the space between the end doors of adjacent cars inclosed, so as to admit of leaving the doors open to provide for intercommunication between all the cars. Syn. -- Hall; passage. -- Vestibule, Hall, Passage. A vestibule is a small apartment within the doors of a building. A hall is the first large apartment beyond the vestibule, and, in the United States, is often long and narrow, serving as a passage to the several apartments. In England, the hall is generally square or oblong, and a long, narrow space of entrance is called a passage, not a hall, as in America. Vestibule is often used in a figurative sense to denote a place of entrance. "The citizens of Rome placed the images of their ancestors in the vestibules of their houses." Bolingbroke "oblong": Having greater length than breadth, esp. when rectangular. A rectangular figure longer than it is broad; hence, any figure longer than it is broad. The best figure of a garden I esteem an oblong upon a descent. Sir W. Temple. "antechamber": 1. A chamber or apartment before the chief apartment and leading into it, in which persons wait for audience; an outer chamber. See Lobby. 2. A space viewed as the outer chamber or the entrance to an interior part. The mouth, the antechamber to the digestive canal. Todd & Bowman. "figurative": 1. Representing by a figure, or by resemblance; typical; representative. This, they will say, was figurative, and served, by God's appointment, but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity. Hooker. 2. Used in a sense that is tropical, as a metaphor; not literal; -- applied to words and expressions. 3. Ambounding in figures of speech; flowery; florid; as, a highly figurative description. 4. Relating to the representation of form or figure by drawing, carving, etc. See Figure, n., 2. They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form. J. A. Symonds. Figurative counterpointdescant. See under Figurate. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ly, adv. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ness, n. "denote": 1. To mark out plainly; to signify by a visible sign; to serve as the sign or name of; to indicate; to point out; as, the hands of the clock denote the hour. The better to denote her to the doctor. Shak. 2. To be the sign of; to betoken; to signify; to mean. A general expression to denote wickedness of every sort. Gilpin. "intercommunication": Mutual communication. Owen. "urethra": The canal by which the urine is conducted from the bladder and discharged. "vulva": 1. (Anat.) The external parts of the female genital organs; sometimes, the opening between the projecting parts of the external organs. 2. (Zoöl.) The orifice of the oviduct of an insect or other invertebrate.

Difficulty: 16.07
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9926 Just as I made up my mind to go inside and search the mosque, Tariq came into view, passing from right to left across the huge, ornately tiled vestibule.
1299 mountaineer prev next
Definition
1. An inhabitant of a mountain; one who lives among mountains. 2. A rude, fierce person. [Obs.] No savage fierce, bandit, or mountaineer. Milton. To lie or act as a mountaineer; to climb mountains. You can't go mountaineering in a flat country. H. James. "inhabitant": 1. One who dwells or resides permanently in a place, as distinguished from a transient lodger or visitor; as, an inhabitant of a house, a town, a city, county, or state. "Frail inhabitants of earth." Cowper. In this place, they report that they saw inhabitants which were very fair and fat people. Abp. Abbot. 2. (Law) One who has a legal settlement in a town, city, or parish; a permanent resident.

Difficulty: 16.07
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26921 More than just the sum of good features—high cheekbones, a high, wide forehead, expressive topaz-coloured eyes, a strong nose, smiling mouth, and firm chin—it was the kind of face that once would’ve been called dashing: the lone yachtsman, the mountaineer, the jungle adventurer.
1300 devotionals prev next
Definition  (devotional)
Pertaining to, suited to, or used in, devotion; as, a devotional posture; devotional exercises; a devotional frame of mind.

Difficulty: 16.06
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Sen 4267 A weeping rendition of the Indian national anthem was followed by religious devotionals.
1301 retinue prev next
Definition
The body of retainers who follow a prince or other distinguished person; a train of attendants; a suite. Others of your insolent retinue. Shak. What followers, what retinue canst thou gain Milton. To have at one's retinue, to keep or employ as a retainer; to retain. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Difficulty: 16.06
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 7095 Kano the bear had released me from the hug, and was already at the end of the short lane, lumbering away with his slow, thumping tread in the company of his handlers and the retinue of people and maddened dogs.
1302 arbitrarily prev next
Definition
In an arbitrary manner; by will only; despotically; absolutely.

Difficulty: 16.06
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11644 Aunt Penny deprived Karla, punished her arbitrarily, chastised and belittled her constantly, and did everything but throw the girl into the street.
1303 squalled prev next
Definition  (squall)
A sudden violent gust of wind often attended with rain or snow. The gray skirts of a lifting squall. Tennyson. Black squall, a squall attended with dark, heavy clouds. -- Thick squall, a black squall accompanied by rain, hail, sleet, or snow. Totten. -- White squall, a squall which comes unexpectedly, without being marked in its approach by the clouds. Totten. To cry out; to scream or cry violently, as a woman frightened, or a child in anger or distress; as, the infant squalled. A loud scream; a harsh cry. There oft are heard the notes of infant woe, -The short, thick sob, loud scream, and shriller squall. Pope.

Difficulty: 16.06
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11816 The rain had squalled through the morning, and by noon it seemed to have settled into the kind of sultry, dozing drizzle that sometimes lasts for days.
1304 squalls prev next
Definition  (squall)
A sudden violent gust of wind often attended with rain or snow. The gray skirts of a lifting squall. Tennyson. Black squall, a squall attended with dark, heavy clouds. -- Thick squall, a black squall accompanied by rain, hail, sleet, or snow. Totten. -- White squall, a squall which comes unexpectedly, without being marked in its approach by the clouds. Totten. To cry out; to scream or cry violently, as a woman frightened, or a child in anger or distress; as, the infant squalled. A loud scream; a harsh cry. There oft are heard the notes of infant woe, -The short, thick sob, loud scream, and shriller squall. Pope.

Difficulty: 16.06
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22109 Snow fell in fitful gusts and squalls that left us sodden in our many-layered patchwork uniforms.
1305 accentuated prev next
Definition  (accentuate)
1. To pronounce with an accent or with accents. 2. To bring out distinctly; to make prominent; to emphasize. In Bosnia, the struggle between East and West was even more accentuated. London Times. 3. To mark with the written accent.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 2393 The fine dagger-line of his moustache accentuated his scowl, and he looked at me with such undiluted loathing that a little prayer unfurled itself in my mind.
1306 wispy prev next
Definition  (wisp)
1. A small bundle, as of straw or other like substance. In a small basket, on a wisp of hay. Dryden. 2. A whisk, or small broom. 3. A Will-o'-the-wisp; an ignis fatuus. The wisp that flickers where no foot can tread. Tennyson. 1. To brush or dress, an with a wisp. 2. To rumple. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4377 I am sorry to disturb.’ The voice belonged to a tall, thin foreigner—German, or Swiss, perhaps—with a wispy beard attached to the point of his long face, and fair hair pulled back into a thick plait.
1307 mandala prev next

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10600 He fell silent, staring into the mandala of veins on the back of his hand.
1308 indomitable prev next
Definition
Not to be subdued; untamable; invincible; as, an indomitable will, courage, animal.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11545 The large, green eyes blazed, indomitable, and she was never more beautiful.
1309 billeted prev next
Definition  (billet)
1. A small paper; a note; a short letter. "I got your melancholy billet." Sterne. 2. A ticket from a public officer directing soldiers at what house to lodge; as, a billet of residence. To direct, by a ticket or note, where to lodge. Hence: To quarter, or place in lodgings, as soldiers in private houses. Billeted in so antiquated a mansion. W. Irving. 1. A small stick of wood, as for firewood. They shall beat out my brains with billets. Shak. 2. (Metal.) A short bar of metal, as of gold or iron. 3. (Arch.) An ornament in Norman work, resembling a billet of wood either square or round. 4. (Saddlery) (a) A strap which enters a buckle. (b) A loop which receives the end of a buckled strap. Knight. 5. (Her.) A bearing in the form of an oblong rectangle. "saddlery": 1. The materials for making saddles and harnesses; the articles usually offered for sale in a saddler's shop. 2. The trade or employment of a saddler. "oblong": Having greater length than breadth, esp. when rectangular. A rectangular figure longer than it is broad; hence, any figure longer than it is broad. The best figure of a garden I esteem an oblong upon a descent. Sir W. Temple.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 22159 In the mornings I tended to the horses, which were billeted in another cave further down the mountain.
1310 wrung prev next
Definition
imp. & p. p. of Wring.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24110 A memory of Khaled wrung out my heart—I used to run up these stairs with Khaled, with Khaled, with Khaled—and I clenched my jaw against it, just as I bit down on the pain in my wounded shins.
1311 recognisable prev next

Difficulty: 16.05
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Sen 4541 Their legs became huge, bloated out of recognisable shape, and covered with purple varicose boils.
1312 varicose prev next
Definition
1. Irregularly swollen or enlarged; affected with, or containing, varices, or varicosities; of or pertaining to varices, or varicosities; as, a varicose nerve fiber; a varicose vein; varicose ulcers. 2. (Med.) Intended for the treatment of varicose veins; -- said of elastic stockings, bandages. and the like. "varices": See Varix. "irregularly": In an irregular manner.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4541 Their legs became huge, bloated out of recognisable shape, and covered with purple varicose boils.
1313 culled prev next
Definition  (cull)
To separate, select, or pick out; to choose and gather or collect; as, to cuil flowers. From his herd he culls, For slaughter, from the fairest of his bulls. Dryden. Whitest honey in fairy gardens culled. Tennyson. A cully; a dupe; a gull. See Gully. "culls": 1. Refuse timber, from which the best part has been culled out. 2. Any refuse stuff, as rolls not properly baked.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10277 Some of them were culled from various novels and other texts, each one attributed to the respective author and annotated with her own comments and criticisms.
1314 drooping prev next
Definition  (droop)
1. To hang bending downward; to sink or hang down, as an animal, plant, etc., from physical inability or exhaustion, want of nourishment, or the like. "The purple flowers droop." "Above her drooped a lamp." Tennyson. I saw him ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish. Swift. 2. To grow weak or faint with disappointment, grief, or like causes; to be dispirited or depressed; to languish; as, her spirits drooped. I'll animate the soldier's drooping courage. Addison. 3. To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline. "Then day drooped." Tennyson. To let droop or sink. [R.] M. Arnold. Like to a withered vine That droops his sapless branches to the ground. Shak. A drooping; as, a droop of the eye. "languish": 1. To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to wither or fade. We . . . do languish of such diseases. 2 Esdras viii. 31. Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me landguish into life. Pope. For the fields of Heshbon languish. Is. xvi. 8. 2. To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy. Tennyson. Syn. -- To pine; wither; fade; droop; faint. To cause to dr [Obs.] Shak. Dryden. See Languishiment. [Obs. or Poetic] What, of death, too, That rids our dogs of languish Shak. And the blue languish of soft Allia's eye. Pope. "dispirited": Depressed in spirits; disheartened; daunted. -- Dis*pir"it*ed*ly, adv. -- Dis*pir"it*ed, n. "sapless": 1. Destitute of sap; not juicy. 2. Fig.: Dry, old; husky; withered; spiritless. "A somewhat sapless womanhood." Lowell. Now sapless on the verge of death he stands. Dryden.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 12256 The hook held my bound hands in the bunched ropes, and my head hung down, level with my drooping feet.
1315 agnostics prev next
Definition  (agnostic)
Professing ignorance; involving no dogmatic; pertaining to or involving agnosticism. -- Ag*nos"tic*al*ly, adv. One who professes ignorance, or denies that we have any knowledge, save of phenomena; one who supports agnosticism, neither affirming nor denying the existence of a personal Deity, a future life, etc. "agnosticism": That doctrine which, professing ignorance, neither asserts nor denies. Specifically: (Theol.) The doctrine that the existence of a personal Deity, an unseen world, etc., can be neither proved nor disproved, because of the necessary limits of the human mind (as sometimes charged upon Hamilton and Mansel), or because of the insufficiency of the evidence furnished by physical and physical data, to warrant a positive conclusion (as taught by the school of Herbert Spencer); -- opposed alike dogmatic skepticism and to dogmatic theism. "dogmatic": One of an ancient sect of physicians who went by general principles; -- opposed to the Empiric. 1. Pertaining to a dogma, or to an established and authorized doctrine or tenet. 2. Asserting a thing positively and authoritatively; positive; magisterial; hence, arrogantly authoritative; overbearing. Critics write in a positive, dogmatic way. Spectator. [They] are as assertive and dogmatical as if they were omniscient. Glanvill. Dogmatic theology. Same as Dogmatics. Syn. -- Magisterial; arrogant. See Magisterial.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 14699 But how can the different religions, not to mention the atheists and agnostics and the just plain confused, like me, ever find any definition universally acceptable?
1316 recognisably prev next

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 23044 One man was so badly burned that his fingers had fused together like a crab’s claws, and his face wasn’t recognisably human.
1317 drooped prev next
Definition  (droop)
1. To hang bending downward; to sink or hang down, as an animal, plant, etc., from physical inability or exhaustion, want of nourishment, or the like. "The purple flowers droop." "Above her drooped a lamp." Tennyson. I saw him ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish. Swift. 2. To grow weak or faint with disappointment, grief, or like causes; to be dispirited or depressed; to languish; as, her spirits drooped. I'll animate the soldier's drooping courage. Addison. 3. To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline. "Then day drooped." Tennyson. To let droop or sink. [R.] M. Arnold. Like to a withered vine That droops his sapless branches to the ground. Shak. A drooping; as, a droop of the eye. "languish": 1. To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to wither or fade. We . . . do languish of such diseases. 2 Esdras viii. 31. Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me landguish into life. Pope. For the fields of Heshbon languish. Is. xvi. 8. 2. To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy. Tennyson. Syn. -- To pine; wither; fade; droop; faint. To cause to dr [Obs.] Shak. Dryden. See Languishiment. [Obs. or Poetic] What, of death, too, That rids our dogs of languish Shak. And the blue languish of soft Allia's eye. Pope. "dispirited": Depressed in spirits; disheartened; daunted. -- Dis*pir"it*ed*ly, adv. -- Dis*pir"it*ed, n. "sapless": 1. Destitute of sap; not juicy. 2. Fig.: Dry, old; husky; withered; spiritless. "A somewhat sapless womanhood." Lowell. Now sapless on the verge of death he stands. Dryden.

Difficulty: 16.05
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24432 The pouches beneath his eyes drooped past the peak of his cheekbones and reminded me, with a shiver, of those that had dragged down the eyes of the madman Habib.
1318 fractal prev next

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 8896 ‘I … I … I’m not sure what you mean?’ I stammered, my brain soundlessly exploding in fractal repetitions of the pattern in the carpet beneath my feet.
1319 proficiency prev next
Definition
The quality of state of being proficient; advance in the acquisition of any art, science, or knowledge; progression in knowledge; improvement; adeptness; as, to acquire proficiency in music. "adeptness": The quality of being adept; skill.

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 9430 I knew that if they had no special reason to suspect or challenge me, my proficiency with the Marathi language would please them as much as it surprised them.
1320 asterisks prev next
Definition  (asterisk)
The figure of a star, thus,

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10281 Certain words and their dictionary meanings were listed throughout the journal and marked with asterisks, forming a running vocabulary of unusual and obscure words.
1321 nape prev next
Definition
The back part of the neck. Spenser.

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11522 Her black hair was pulled back tightly and fastened at the nape of her neck.
1322 passkey prev next

Difficulty: 16.04
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 16434 Vikram, Abdullah, and I stood outside the door to their room, with a passkey poised over the lock.
1323 dhotis prev next

Difficulty: 16.03
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 4204 They were dressed in dhotis and white caps like the farmers in Prabaker’s village, and they sat on the floor to eat a hearty meal of dhal, rice, and roti.
1324 throb prev next
Definition
To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. My heart Throbs to know one thing. Shak. Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast. Shak. A beat, or strong pulsation, as of the heart and arteries; a violent beating; a papitation: The IMPATIENT throbs and longings of a soul That pants and reaches after distant good. Addison. "pulsation": 1. (Physiol.) A beating or throbbing, especially of the heart or of an artery, or in an inflamed part; a beat of the pulse. 2. A single beat or throb of a series. 3. A stroke or impulse by which some medium is affected, as in the propagation of sounds. 4. (Law) Any touching of another's body willfully or in anger. This constitutes battery. By the Cornelian law, pulsation as well as verberation is prohibited. Blackstone. "pulsate": To throb, as a pulse; to beat, as the heart. The heart of a viper or frog will continue to pulsate long after it is taken from the body. E. Darwin. "rapidity": The quality or state of being rapid; swiftness; celerity; velocity; as, the rapidity of growth or improvement. Syn. -- -- Rapidness; haste; speed; celerity; velocity; swiftness; fleetness; quickness; agility. "palpitate": To beat rapidly and more strongly than usual; to throb; to bound with emotion or exertion; to pulsate violently; to flutter; -- said specifically of the heart when its action is abnormal, as from excitement.

Difficulty: 16.03
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 6954 Across that half-metre of air, I felt the reverberations of the feral noise throb against my chest.
1325 smorgasbord prev next

Difficulty: 16.03
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17001 The hotel also offered one of the best and most comprehensively eclectic smorgasbord lunches in the city.
1326 abhorrent prev next
Definition
1. Abhorring; detesting; having or showing abhorrence; loathing; hence, strongly opposed to; as, abhorrent thoughts. The persons most abhorrent from blood and treason. Burke. The arts of pleasure in despotic courts I spurn abhorrent. Clover. 2. Contrary or repugnant; discordant; inconsistent; -- followed by to. "Injudicious profanation, so abhorrent to our stricter principles." Gibbon. 3. Detestable. "Pride, abhorrent as it is." I. Taylor. "abhorring": 1. Detestation. Milton. 2. Object of abhorrence. Isa. lxvi. 24. "despotic": Having the character of, or pertaining to, a despot; absolute in power; possessing and abusing unlimited power; evincing despotism; tyrannical; arbitrary. -- Des*pot"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Des*pot"ic*al*ness, n. "spurn": 1. To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [The bird] with his foot will spurn adown his cup. Chaucer. I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. Shak. 2. To reject with disdain; to scorn to receive or accept; to treat with contempt. What safe and nicely I might well delay By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn. Shak. Domestics will pay a more cheerful service when they find themselves not spurned because fortune has laid them at their master's feet. Locke. 1. To kick or toss up the heels. The miller spurned at a stone. Chaucer. The drunken chairman in the kennel spurns. Gay. 2. To manifest disdain in rejecting anything; to make contemptuous opposition or resistance. Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image. Shak. 1. A kick; a blow with the foot. [R.] What defence can properly be used in such a despicable encounter as this but either the slap or the spurn Milton. 2. Disdainful rejection; contemptuous tratment. The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes. Shak. 3. (Mining) A body of coal left to sustain an overhanding mass. "injudicious": 1. Not judicious; wanting in sound judgment; undiscerning; indiscreet; unwise; as, an injudicious adviser. An injudicious biographer who undertook to be his editor and the protector of his memory. A. Murphy. 2. Not according to sound judgment or discretion; unwise; as, an injudicious measure. Syn. -- Indiscreet; inconsiderate; undiscerning; incautious; unwise; rash; hasty; imprudent. "abhorrence": Extreme hatred or detestation; the feeling of utter dislike. "profanation": 1. The act of violating sacred things, or of treating them with contempt or irreverence; irreverent or too familiar treatment or use of what is sacred; desecration; as, the profanation of the Sabbath; the profanation of a sanctuary; the profanation of the name of God. 2. The act of treating with abuse or disrespect, or with undue publicity, or lack of delicacy. 'T were profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love. Donne.

Difficulty: 16.03
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 26316 They were deeply moving in their beauty, for the first few stanzas, but always found their way into sexual descriptions and allusions so perverse and abhorrent that strong, wicked men winced to hear them.
1327 mitra prev next

Difficulty: 16.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3372 ‘Maza mitra ahey,’ Prabaker answered with contrived nonchalance, trying in vain to disguise his pride.
1328 grift prev next

Difficulty: 16.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 18102 Schooled more in crime than in scholarship, and barely literate, he’d worked his way from swindle to grift to petty larceny across Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and India.
1329 fou prev next

Difficulty: 16.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 21287 Habib, the fou, the crazy one, he knows the way.
1330 torturous prev next
Definition
Involving, or pertaining to, torture. [R.] "The torturous crucifixion." I. Disraeli.

Difficulty: 16.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24084 And then, after three weeks of that maddening, torturous pain and massive, self-medicated doses of penicillin and hot antibiotic washes, the wound healed and the pain receded from me just as memories do, like landmarks on a distant, foggy shore.
1331 scruff prev next
Definition
Scurf. [Obs.] The nape of the neck; the loose outside skin, as of the back of the neck. "scurf": 1. Thin dry scales or scabs upon the body; especially, thin scales exfoliated from the cuticle, particularly of the scalp; dandruff. 2. Hence, the foul remains of anything adherent. The scurf is worn away of each committed crime. Dryden. 3. Anything like flakes or scales adhering to a surface. There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top Belched fire and rolling smoke; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf. Milton. 4. (Bot.) Minute membranous scales on the surface of some leaves, as in the goosefoot. Gray. "nape": The back part of the neck. Spenser.

Difficulty: 16.02
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 27606 Pushing between us, he seized Andrew by the wrist and a scruff of shirtsleeve.
1332 panchayat prev next

Difficulty: 16.01
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 3861 Her father was head of a village council, a panchayat, and Rukhmabai could read and write, in Hindi and Marathi.
1333 skewed prev next
Definition  (skew)
Awry; obliquely; askew. Turned or twisted to one side; situated obliquely; skewed; -- chiefly used in technical phrases. Skew arch, an oblique arch. See under Oblique. -- Skew back. (Civil Engin.) (a) The course of masonry, the stone, or the iron plate, having an inclined face, which forms the abutment for the voussoirs of a segmental arch. (b) A plate, cap, or shoe, having an inclined face to receive the nut of a diagonal brace, rod, or the end of an inclined strut, in a truss or frame. -- Skew bridge. See under Bridge, n. -- Skew curve (Geom.), a curve of double curvature, or a twisted curve. See Plane curve, under Curve. -- Skew gearing, or Skew bevel gearing (Mach.), toothed gearing, generally resembling bevel gearing, for connecting two shafts that are neither parallel nor intersecting, and in which the teeth slant across the faces of the gears. -- Skew surface (Geom.), a ruled surface such that in general two successive generating straight lines do not intersect; a warped surface; as, the helicoid is a skew surface. -- Skew symmetrical determinant (Alg.), a determinant in which the elements in each column of the matrix are equal to the elements of the corresponding row of the matrix with the signs changed, as in (1), below. (1) 0 2 -3-2 0 53 -5 0 (2) 4 -1 71 8 -2-7 2 1 Note: This requires that the numbers in the diagonal from the upper left to lower right corner be zeros. A like determinant in which the numbers in the diagonal are not zeros is a skew determinant, as in (2), above. A stone at the foot of the slope of a gable, the offset of a buttress, or the like, cut with a sloping surface and with a check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place. 1. To walk obliquely; to go sidling; to lie or move obliquely. Child, you must walk straight, without skewing. L'Estrange. 2. To start aside; to shy, as a horse. [Prov. Eng.] 3. To look obliquely; to squint; hence, to look slightingly or suspiciously. Beau & Fl. 1. To shape or form in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position. 2. To throw or hurl obliquely. "obliquely": In an oblique manner; not directly; indirectly. "Truth obliquely leveled." Bp. Fell. Declining from the noon of day, The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray. Pope His discourse tends obliquely to the detracting from others. Addison. "buttress": 1. (Arch.) A projecting mass of masonry, used for resisting the thrust of an arch, or for ornament and symmetry. Note: When an external projection is used merely to stiffen a wall, it is a pier. 2. Anything which supports or strengthens. "The ground pillar and buttress of the good old cause of nonconformity." South. Flying buttress. See Flying buttress. To support with a buttress; to prop; to brace firmly. To set it upright again, and to prop and buttress it up for duration. Burke. "slightingly": In a slighting manner. "bevel": 1. Any angle other than a right angle; the angle which one surface makes with another when they are not at right angles; the slant or inclination of such surface; as, to give a bevel to the edge of a table or a stone slab; the bevel of a piece of timber. 2. An instrument consisting of two rules or arms, jointed together at one end, and opening to any angle, for adjusting the surfaces of work to the same or a given inclination; -- called also a bevel square. Gwilt. 1. Having the slant of a bevel; slanting. 2. Hence: Morally distorted; not upright. [Poetic] I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel. Shak. A bevel angle, any angle other than one of 90º. -- Bevel wheel, a cogwheel whose working face is oblique to the axis. Knight. To cut to a bevel angle; to slope the edge or surface of. To deviate or incline from an angle of 90 Their houses are very ill built, the walls bevel. Swift. "abutment": 1. State of abutting. 2. That on or against which a body abuts or presses; as (a) (Arch.) The solid part of a pier or wall, etc., which receives the thrust or lateral pressure of an arch, vault, or strut. Gwilt. (b) (mech.) A fixed point or surface from which resistance or reaction is obtained, as the cylinder head of a steam engine, the fulcrum of a lever, etc. (c) In breech-loading firearms, the block behind the barrel which receives the pressure due to recoil. "toothed": 1. Having teeth; furnished with teeth. "Ruby-lipped and toothed with pearl." Herrick. 2. (Bot. & Zoöl.) Having marginal projecting points; dentate. Toothed whale (Zoöl.), any whale of the order Denticete. See Denticete. -- Toothed wheel, a wheel with teeth or projections cut or set on its edge or circumference, for transmitting motion by their action on the engaging teeth of another wheel. "oblique": 1. Not erect or perpendicular; neither parallel to, nor at right angles from, the base; slanting; inclined. It has a direction oblique to that of the former motion. Cheyne. 2. Not straightforward; indirect; obscure; hence, disingenuous; underhand; perverse; sinister. The love we bear our friends... Hath in it certain oblique ends. Drayton. This mode of oblique research, when a more direct one is denied, we find to be the only one in our power. De Quincey. Then would be closed the restless, oblique eye. That looks for evil, like a treacherous spy. Wordworth. 3. Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral. His natural affection in a direct line was strong, in an oblique but weak. Baker. Oblique angle, Oblique ascension, etc. See under Angle,Ascension, etc. -- Oblique arch (Arch.), an arch whose jambs are not at right angles with the face, and whose intrados is in consequence askew. -- Oblique bridge, a skew bridge. See under Bridge, n. -- Oblique case (Gram.), any case except the nominative. See Case, n. -- Oblique circle (Projection), a circle whose plane is oblique to the axis of the primitive plane. -- Oblique fire (Mil.), a fire the direction of which is not perpendicular to the line fired at. -- Oblique flank (Fort.), that part of the curtain whence the fire of the opposite bastion may be discovered. Wilhelm. -- Oblique leaf. (Bot.) (a) A leaf twisted or inclined from the normal position. (b) A leaf having one half different from the other. -- Oblique line (Geom.), a line that, meeting or tending to meet another, makes oblique angles with it. -- Oblique motion (Mus.), a kind of motion or progression in which one part ascends or descends, while the other prolongs or repeats the same tone, as in the accompanying example. -- Oblique muscle (Anat.), a muscle acting in a direction oblique to the mesial plane of the body, or to the associated muscles; -- applied especially to two muscles of the eyeball. -- Oblique narration. See Oblique speech. -- Oblique planes (Dialing), planes which decline from the zenith, or incline toward the horizon. -- Oblique sailing (Naut.), the movement of a ship when she sails upon some rhumb between the four cardinal points, making an oblique angle with the meridian. -- Oblique speech (Rhet.), speech which is quoted indirectly, or in a different person from that employed by the original speaker. -- Oblique sphere (Astron. & Geog.), the celestial or terrestrial sphere when its axis is oblique to the horizon of the place; or as it appears to an observer at any point on the earth except the poles and the equator. -- Oblique step (Mil.), a step in marching, by which the soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25º. It is not now practiced. Wilhelm. -- Oblique system of coördinates (Anal. Geom.), a system in which the coördinate axes are oblique to each other. An oblique line. 1. To deviate from a perpendicular line; to move in an oblique direction. Projecting his person towards it in a line which obliqued from the bottom of his spine. Sir. W. Scott. 2. (Mil.) To march in a direction oblique to the line of the column or platoon; -- formerly accomplished by oblique steps, now by direct steps, the men half-facing either to the right or left. "sloping": Inclining or inclined from the plane of the horizon, or from a horizontal or other right line; oblique; declivous; slanting. -- Slop"ing*ly, adv. The sloping land recedes into the clouds. Cowper. "helicoid": 1. Spiral; curved, like the spire of a univalve shell. 2. (Zoöl.) Shaped like a snail shell; pertaining to the Helicidæ, or Snail family. Helicoid parabola (Math.), the parabolic spiral. A warped surface which may be generated by a straight line moving in such a manner that every point of the line shall have a uniform motion in the direction of another fixed straight line, and at the same time a uniform angular motion about it. "segmental": 1. Relating to, or being, a segment. 2. (Anat. & Zoöl.) (a) Of or pertaining to the segments of animals; as, a segmental duct; segmental papillæ. (b) Of or pertaining to the segmental organs. Segmental duct (Anat.), the primitive duct of the embryonic excretory organs which gives rise to the Wolffian duct and ureter; the pronephric duct. -- Segmental organs. (a) (Anat.) The embryonic excretory organs of vertebrates, consisting primarily of the segmental tubes and segmental ducts. (b) (Zoöl.) The tubular excretory organs, a pair of which often occur in each of several segments in annelids. They serve as renal organs, and often, also, as oviducts and sperm ducts. See Illust. under Sipunculacea. -- Segmental tubes (Anat.), the tubes which primarily open into the segmental duct, some of which become the urinary tubules of the adult. "determinant": Serving to determine or limit; determinative. 1. That which serves to determine; that which causes determination. 2. (Math.) The sum of a series of products of several numbers, these products being formed according to certain specified laws; thus, the determinant of the nine numbers. a, b, c,a', b', c',a'\'b7, b'\'b7, c'\'b7, is a b' c'\'b7 -- a b'\'b7 c' + a' b'\'b7 c] -- a' b c'\'b7 + a'\'b7 b' c. The determinant is written by placing the numbers from which it is formed in a square between two vertical lines. The theory of determinants forms a very important branch of modern mathematics. 3. (Logic) A mark or attribute, attached to the subject or predicate, narrowing the extent of both, but rendering them more definite and precise. Abp. Thomson.

Difficulty: 16.01
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 17429 The precise angle of one slightly skewed stamp or the casual blurring of another are as significant to those small canvasses as the shape, position, and colour of a fallen rose might be in a grand master’s portrait.
1334 trepidation prev next
Definition
1. An involuntary trembling, sometimes an effect of paralysis, but usually caused by terror or fear; quaking; quivering. 2. Hence, a state of terror or alarm; fear; confusion; fright; as, the men were in great trepidation. 3. (Anc. Astron.) A libration of the starry sphere in the Ptolemaic system; a motion ascribed to the firmament, to account for certain small changes in the position of the ecliptic and of the stars. Syn. -- Tremor; agitation; disturbance; fear. "ecliptic": 1. (Astron.) A great circle of the celestial sphere, making an angle with the equinoctial of about 23º 28'. It is the apparent path of the sun, or the real path of the earth as seen from the sun. 2. (Geog.) A great circle drawn on a terrestrial globe, making an angle of 23º 28' with the equator; -- used for illustrating and solving astronomical problems. 1. Pertaining to the ecliptic; as, the ecliptic way. 2. Pertaining to an eclipse or to eclipses. Lunar ecliptic limit (Astron.), the space of 12º on the moon's orbit from the node, within which, if the moon happens to be at full, it will be eclipsed. -- Solar ecliptic limit, the space of 17º from the lunar node, within which, if a conjunction of the sun and moon occur, the sun will be eclipsed. "libration": 1. The act or state of librating. Jer. Taylor. 2. (Astron.) A real or apparent libratory motion, like that of a balance before coming to rest. Libration of the moon, any one of those small periodical changes in the position of the moon's surface relatively to the earth, in consequence of which narrow portions at opposite limbs become visible or invisible alternately. It receives different names according to the manner in which it takes place; as: (a) Libration in longitude, that which, depending on the place of the moon in its elliptic orbit, causes small portions near the eastern and western borders alternately to appear and disappear each month. (b) Libration in latitude, that which depends on the varying position of the moon's axis in respect to the spectator, causing the alternate appearance and disappearance of either pole. (c) Diurnal or parallactic libration, that which brings into view on the upper limb, at rising and setting, some parts not in the average visible hemisphere. "quaking": a. & n. from Quake, v. Quaking aspen (Bot.), an American species of poplar (Populus tremuloides), the leaves of which tremble in the lightest breeze. It much resembles the European aspen. See Aspen. -- Quaking bog, a bog of forming peat so saturated with water that it shakes when trodden upon. -- Quaking grass. (Bot.) (a) One of several grasses of the genus Briza, having slender-stalked and pendulous ovate spikelets, which quake and rattle in the wind. Briza maxima is the large quaking grass; B. media and B. minor are the smaller kinds. (b) Rattlesnake grass (Glyceria Canadensis). "ptolemaic": Of or pertaining to Ptolemy, the geographer and astronomer. Ptolemaic system (Astron.), the system maintained by Ptolemy, who supposed the earth to be fixed in the center of the universe, with the sun and stars revolving around it. This theory was received for ages, until superseded by the Copernican system.

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Sen 3602 In the hope of dispelling that trepidation, I began to practise my Indian head-wiggle.
1335 inevitability prev next
Definition
Impossibility to be avoided or shunned; inevitableness. Shelford. "inevitableness": The state of being unavoidable; certainty to happen. Prideaux.

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Sen 11039 Oh yes, Vikram’s pursuit of Letitia proceeds with a certain bizarre inevitability.
1336 wistfully prev next
Definition  (wistful)
1. Longing; wishful; desirous. Lifting up one of my sashes, I cast many a wistful, melancholy look towards the sea. Swift. 2. Full of thought; eagerly attentive; meditative; musing; pensive; contemplative. That he who there at such an hour hath been, Will wistful linger on that hallowed spot. Byron. -- Wist"ful*ly, adv. -- Wist"ful*ness, n. "contemplative": 1. Pertaining to contemplation; addicted to, or employed in, contemplation; meditative. Fixed and contemplative their looks. Denham. 2. Having the power of contemplation; as, contemplative faculties. Ray. A religious or either sex devoted to prayer and meditation, rather than to active works of charity. "wist": Knew. "desirous": Feeling desire; eagerly wishing; solicitous; eager to obtain; covetous. Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him. John xvi. 19. Be not desirous of his dainties. Prov. xxiii. 3. "meditative": Disposed to meditate, or to meditation; as, a meditative man; a meditative mood. -- Med"i*ta*tive*ly, adv. -- Med"i*ta*tive*ness, n.

Difficulty: 16.01
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Sen 15257 ‘That’s good,’ she said dreamily, wistfully, looking away.
1337 ravel prev next
Definition
1. To separate or undo the texture of; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out; as, to ravel a twist; to ravel out a sticking. Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleave of care. Shak. 2. To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle. 3. To pull apart, as the threads of a texture, and let them fall into a tangled mass; hence, to entangle; to make intricate; to involve. What glory's due to him that could divide Such raveled interests has he not untied Waller. The faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is so often untwisted by violence, or raveled and entangled in weak discourses! Jer. Taylor. 1. To become untwisted or unwoven; to be disentangled; to be relieved of intricacy. 2. To fall into perplexity and confusion. [Obs.] Till, by their own perplexities involved, They ravel more, still less resolved. Milton. 3. To make investigation or search, as by picking out the threads of a woven pattern. [Obs.] The humor of raveling into all these mystical or entangled matters. Sir W. Temple. "unknit": To undo or unravel what is knitted together. Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow. Shak. "untwist": 1. To separate and open, as twisted threads; to turn back, as that which is twisted; to untwine. If one of the twines of the twist do untwist, The twine that untwisteth, untwisteth the twist. Wallis. 2. To untie; to open; to disentangle. Milton. "knits": Small particles of ore. Raymond. "raveling": 1. The act of untwisting, or of disentangling. 2. That which is raveled out; esp., a thread detached from a texture. "sleave": (a) The knotted or entangled part of silk or thread. (b) Silk not yet twisted; floss; -- called also sleave silk. Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care. Shak. To separate, as threads; to divide, as a collection of threads; to sley; -- a weaver's term. "disentangle": 1. To free from entanglement; to release from a condition of being intricately and confusedly involved or interlaced; to reduce to orderly arrangement; to straighten out; as, to disentangle a skein of yarn. 2. To extricate from complication and perplexity; disengage from embarrassing connection or intermixture; to disembroil; to set free; to separate. To disentangle truth from error. Stewart. To extricate and disentangle themselves out of this labyrinth. Clarendon. A mind free and disentangled from all corporeal mixtures. Bp. Stillingfleet. Syn. -- To loose; extricate; disembarrass; disembroil; clear; evolve; disengage; separate; detach. "entangle": 1. To twist or interweave in such a manner as not to be easily separated; to make tangled, confused, and intricate; as, to entangle yarn or the hair. 2. To involve in such complications as to render extrication a bewildering difficulty; hence, metaphorically, to insnare; to perplex; to bewilder; to puzzle; as, to entangle the feet in a net, or in briers. "Entangling alliances." Washington. The difficulties that perplex men's thoughts and entangle their understandings. Locke. Allowing her to entangle herself with a person whose future was so uncertain. Froude. "unweave": To unfold; to undo; to ravel, as what has been woven. "intricacy": The state or quality of being intricate or entangled; perplexity; involution; complication; complexity; that which is intricate or involved; as, the intricacy of a knot; the intricacy of accounts; the intricacy of a cause in controversy; the intricacy of a plot. Freed from intricacies, taught to live The easiest way. Milton. "perplexity": The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.00
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Sen 7495 Although the Bombay Municipal Corporation condemned the illegal slum, and construction company officers discouraged contact between workers and squatters, the people thought of themselves as one group; their days and dreams and drives were entangled in the ravel of ghetto life.
1338 hobbling prev next
Definition  (hobble)
1. To walk lame, bearing chiefly on one leg; to walk with a hitch or hop, or with crutches. The friar was hobbling the same way too. Dryden. 2. To move roughly or irregularly; -- said of style in writing. Prior. The hobbling versification, the mean diction. Jeffreys. 1. To fetter by tying the legs; to hopple; to clog. " They hobbled their horses." Dickens 2. To perplex; to embarrass. 1. An unequal gait; a limp; a halt; as, he has a hobble in his gait. Swift. 2. Same as Hopple. 3. Difficulty; perplexity; embarrassment. Waterton. "versification": The act, art, or practice, of versifying, or making verses; the construction of poetry; metrical composition. "perplex": 1. To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated, and difficult to be unraveled or understood; as, to perplex one with doubts. No artful wildness to perplex the scene. Pope. What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view. Locke. 2. To embarrass; to puzzle; to distract; to bewilder; to confuse; to trouble with ambiguity, suspense, or anxiety. "Perplexd beyond self- explication." Shak. We are perplexed, but not in despair. 2 Cor. iv. 8. We can distinguish no general truths, or at least shall be apt to perplex the mind. Locke. 3. To plague; to vex; to tormen. Glanvill. Syn. -- To entangle; involve; complicate; embarrass; puzzle; bewilder; confuse; distract. See Embarrass. Intricate; difficult. [Obs.] Glanvill. "hopple": 1. To impede by a hopple; to tie the feet of (a horse or a cow) loosely together; to hamper; to hobble; as, to hopple an unruly or straying horse. 2. Fig.: To entangle; to hamper. Dr. H. More. A fetter for horses, or cattle, when turned out to graze; -- chiefly used in the plural. "fetter": 1. A chain or shackle for the feet; a chain by which an animal is confined by the foot, either made fast or disabled from free and rapid motion; a bond; a shackle. [They] bound him with fetters of brass. Judg. xvi. 21. 2. Anything that confines or restrains; a restraint. Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound. Dryden. 1. To put fetters upon; to shakle or confine the feet of with a chain; to bind. My heels are fettered, but my fist is free. Milton. 2. To reastrain from motion; to impose restrains on; to confine; to enchain; as, fettered by obligations. My conscience! thou art fettered More than my shanks and wrists. Shak. "perplexity": The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton. "irregularly": In an irregular manner.

Difficulty: 16.00
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 10952 ‘Oh, Lin!’ he called out, hobbling across the broken ground on his platform shoes.
1339 hobble prev next
Definition
1. To walk lame, bearing chiefly on one leg; to walk with a hitch or hop, or with crutches. The friar was hobbling the same way too. Dryden. 2. To move roughly or irregularly; -- said of style in writing. Prior. The hobbling versification, the mean diction. Jeffreys. 1. To fetter by tying the legs; to hopple; to clog. " They hobbled their horses." Dickens 2. To perplex; to embarrass. 1. An unequal gait; a limp; a halt; as, he has a hobble in his gait. Swift. 2. Same as Hopple. 3. Difficulty; perplexity; embarrassment. Waterton. "versification": The act, art, or practice, of versifying, or making verses; the construction of poetry; metrical composition. "perplex": 1. To involve; to entangle; to make intricate or complicated, and difficult to be unraveled or understood; as, to perplex one with doubts. No artful wildness to perplex the scene. Pope. What was thought obscure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will lie open to the understanding in a fair view. Locke. 2. To embarrass; to puzzle; to distract; to bewilder; to confuse; to trouble with ambiguity, suspense, or anxiety. "Perplexd beyond self- explication." Shak. We are perplexed, but not in despair. 2 Cor. iv. 8. We can distinguish no general truths, or at least shall be apt to perplex the mind. Locke. 3. To plague; to vex; to tormen. Glanvill. Syn. -- To entangle; involve; complicate; embarrass; puzzle; bewilder; confuse; distract. See Embarrass. Intricate; difficult. [Obs.] Glanvill. "hopple": 1. To impede by a hopple; to tie the feet of (a horse or a cow) loosely together; to hamper; to hobble; as, to hopple an unruly or straying horse. 2. Fig.: To entangle; to hamper. Dr. H. More. A fetter for horses, or cattle, when turned out to graze; -- chiefly used in the plural. "fetter": 1. A chain or shackle for the feet; a chain by which an animal is confined by the foot, either made fast or disabled from free and rapid motion; a bond; a shackle. [They] bound him with fetters of brass. Judg. xvi. 21. 2. Anything that confines or restrains; a restraint. Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound. Dryden. 1. To put fetters upon; to shakle or confine the feet of with a chain; to bind. My heels are fettered, but my fist is free. Milton. 2. To reastrain from motion; to impose restrains on; to confine; to enchain; as, fettered by obligations. My conscience! thou art fettered More than my shanks and wrists. Shak. "perplexity": The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton. "irregularly": In an irregular manner.

Difficulty: 16.00
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13120 With the ankle-chains fitted, he lifted the length of chain that would hobble my step.
1340 ravelling prev next
Definition  (ravel)
1. To separate or undo the texture of; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out; as, to ravel a twist; to ravel out a sticking. Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleave of care. Shak. 2. To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle. 3. To pull apart, as the threads of a texture, and let them fall into a tangled mass; hence, to entangle; to make intricate; to involve. What glory's due to him that could divide Such raveled interests has he not untied Waller. The faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is so often untwisted by violence, or raveled and entangled in weak discourses! Jer. Taylor. 1. To become untwisted or unwoven; to be disentangled; to be relieved of intricacy. 2. To fall into perplexity and confusion. [Obs.] Till, by their own perplexities involved, They ravel more, still less resolved. Milton. 3. To make investigation or search, as by picking out the threads of a woven pattern. [Obs.] The humor of raveling into all these mystical or entangled matters. Sir W. Temple. "unknit": To undo or unravel what is knitted together. Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow. Shak. "untwist": 1. To separate and open, as twisted threads; to turn back, as that which is twisted; to untwine. If one of the twines of the twist do untwist, The twine that untwisteth, untwisteth the twist. Wallis. 2. To untie; to open; to disentangle. Milton. "knits": Small particles of ore. Raymond. "raveling": 1. The act of untwisting, or of disentangling. 2. That which is raveled out; esp., a thread detached from a texture. "sleave": (a) The knotted or entangled part of silk or thread. (b) Silk not yet twisted; floss; -- called also sleave silk. Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care. Shak. To separate, as threads; to divide, as a collection of threads; to sley; -- a weaver's term. "disentangle": 1. To free from entanglement; to release from a condition of being intricately and confusedly involved or interlaced; to reduce to orderly arrangement; to straighten out; as, to disentangle a skein of yarn. 2. To extricate from complication and perplexity; disengage from embarrassing connection or intermixture; to disembroil; to set free; to separate. To disentangle truth from error. Stewart. To extricate and disentangle themselves out of this labyrinth. Clarendon. A mind free and disentangled from all corporeal mixtures. Bp. Stillingfleet. Syn. -- To loose; extricate; disembarrass; disembroil; clear; evolve; disengage; separate; detach. "entangle": 1. To twist or interweave in such a manner as not to be easily separated; to make tangled, confused, and intricate; as, to entangle yarn or the hair. 2. To involve in such complications as to render extrication a bewildering difficulty; hence, metaphorically, to insnare; to perplex; to bewilder; to puzzle; as, to entangle the feet in a net, or in briers. "Entangling alliances." Washington. The difficulties that perplex men's thoughts and entangle their understandings. Locke. Allowing her to entangle herself with a person whose future was so uncertain. Froude. "unweave": To unfold; to undo; to ravel, as what has been woven. "intricacy": The state or quality of being intricate or entangled; perplexity; involution; complication; complexity; that which is intricate or involved; as, the intricacy of a knot; the intricacy of accounts; the intricacy of a cause in controversy; the intricacy of a plot. Freed from intricacies, taught to live The easiest way. Milton. "perplexity": The quality or state of being perplexed or puzzled; complication; intricacy; entanglement; distraction of mind through doubt or difficulty; embarrassment; bewilderment; doubt. By their own perplexities involved, They ravel more. Milton.

Difficulty: 16.00
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 13725 I slept for ten hours at a stretch, night after night, healing my lacerated body with sleep’s ravelling repair.
1341 malign prev next
Definition
1. Having an evil disposition toward others; harboring violent enmity; malevolent; malicious; spiteful; -- opposed to benign. Witchcraft may be by operation of malign spirits. Bacon. 2. Unfavorable; unpropitious; pernicious; tending to injure; as, a malign aspect of planets. 3. Malignant; as, a malign ulcer. [R.] Bacon. To treat with malice; to show hatred toward; to abuse; to wrong; to injure. [Obs.] The people practice what mischiefs and villainies they will against private men, whom they malign by stealing their goods, or murdering them. Spenser. 2. To speak great evil of; to traduce; to defame; to slander; to vilify; to asperse. To be envied and shot at; to be maligned standing, and to be despised falling. South. To entertain malice. [Obs.] "vilify": 1. To make vile; to debase; to degrade; to disgrace. [R.] When themselves they vilified To serve ungoverned appetite. Milton. 2. To degrade or debase by report; to defame; to traduce; to calumniate. I. Taylor. Many passions dispose us to depress and vilify the merit of one rising in the esteem of mankind. Addison. 3. To treat as vile; to despise. [Obs.] I do vilify your censure. Beau. & Fl. "asperse": 1. To sprinkle, as water or dust, upon anybody or anything, or to besprinkle any one with a liquid or with dust. Heywood. 2. To bespatter with foul reports or false and injurious charges; to tarnish in point of reputation or good name; to slander or calumniate; as, to asperse a poet or his writings; to asperse a man's character. With blackest crimes aspersed. Cowper. Syn. -- To slander; defame; detract from; calumniate; vilify. -- To Asperse, Defame, Slander, Calumniate. These words have in common the idea of falsely assailing the character of another. To asperse is figuratively to cast upon a character hitherto unsullied the imputation of blemishes or faults which render it offensive or loathsome. To defame is to detract from a man's honor and reputation by charges calculated to load him with infamy. Slander (etymologically the same as scandal) and calumniate, from the Latin, have in common the sense of circulating reports to a man's injury from unworthy or malicious motives. Men asperse their neighbors by malignant insinuations; they defame by advancing charges to blacken or sully their fair fame; they slander or calumniate by spreading injurious reports which are false, or by magnifying slight faults into serious errors or crimes. "unfavorable": Not favorable; not propitious; adverse; contrary; discouraging. -- Un*fa"vor*a*ble*ness, n. -- Un*fa"vor*a*bly, adv. "traduce": 1. To transfer; to transmit; to hand down; as, to traduce mental qualities to one's descendants. [Obs.] Glanvill. 2. To translate from one language to another; as, to traduce and compose works. [Obs.] Golden Boke. 3. To increase or distribute by propagation. [Obs.] From these only the race of perfect animals were propagated and traduced over the earth. Sir M. Hale. 4. To draw away; to seduce. [Obs.] I can forget the weakness Of the traduced soldiers. Beau. & Fl. 5. To represent; to exhibit; to display; to expose; to make an example of. [Obs.] Bacon. 6. To expose to contempt or shame; to represent as blamable; to calumniate; to vilify; to defame. The best stratagem that Satan hath . . . is by traducing the form and manner of them [prayers], to bring them into contempt. Hooker. He had the baseness . . . to traduce me in libel. Dryden. Syn. -- To calumniate; vilify; defame; disparage; detract; depreciate; decry; slander.

Difficulty: 16.00
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 24030 The Pakistan secret service, the ISI, had a malign interest in every foreigner who entered Afghanistan without their sanction during the war.
1342 wildflowers prev next

Difficulty: 16.00
Appears 1 times in book:
Sen 11233 Moving away from us, the dancers romped and rolled on the rhythm, their swaying heads like a field of wildflowers weaving back and forth on waves of wind.